An exploration by Rashid F Kassim
Introduction
The United States of America began its rise to power and global economic prosperity after the great triumph of WWII. A common misconception that many fall subject to is that the U.S .joined the war to stand on the side of peace, justice, and liberty for the Jewish people against Hilter’s oppressive Nazi regime. The values they claim to this day had nothing to do with the U.S’s involvement in the Second World War. Franklin D. Roosevelt (The USA’s President during the Nazi regime) was no humanitarian. In fact, he had no sympathy for the Jews of Europe. An article from the ‘Los Angeles Times’ discussed his hatred towards Jews. To quote him directly, when FDR was addressing the dense Jewish presence in Europe, his solution to this so-called “problem” was to “spread the Jews thin all over the world”. On top of that, during Roosevelt’s presidency, he emphasized the importance of limiting Jewish refugees entering the United States of America. The source above emphasize that FDR “sought to discourage and disqualify Jewish refugees from coming to the United States”.
The U.S’s involvement can be attributed to a variety of factors. The main theme found suggests that all of these reasons were purely for American interests. Initially, they were facing the worst economic recession recorded in U.S. history till this day (known as the Great Depression). The unemployment rate soared like never before, reaching a staggering 25%; more than 32,000,000 Americans couldn’t find a job. This was detrimental to the American people, and by extension, Roosevelt’s presidency. The U.S. needed to take action that would pave the way to an economic recovery. That’s when a brilliant idea came across FDR’s mind; joining the Second World War. Historically, the US’s involvement in wars always reflected exponential economic growth & and stability (during WWI, the US’s unemployment rate was the lowest in history, being 1%).This was a bulletproof plan. On December 8th, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his iconic speech on the “Day of Infamy”, calling for the U.S. to enter World War II. Immediately afterward, congress declared war knowing it would serve them greatly in two aspects. In the short term, theory would revive a dying economy by mobilizing the military-industrial complex). In the long term, they had to topple a growing empire that posed a great danger to the U.S. reaching global hegemony. Two birds in one stone! This isn’t an opinion, but an openly discussed fact. The likes of the US Department of State and the Library of Congress accredited the US’s involvement in the Second World War to the end of the great depression.
After their success in World War II, D.C. learnt that war was a very valuable asset that worked in their favor, pushing them to rely on this tactic to increase their sphere of influence across the world, while also astronomically boosting their economy. This article will explore how the U.S. managed to engineer a profitable war model by focusing on the proxy wars the US is involved in modern times.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Many U.S. legislatures have brought up and contested the amount of money and aid the United States has provided Ukraine ever since the start of the war, claiming it should be redirected to the American people to improve healthcare, education, and other vital programs.However, if we take a closer look at where the money is going, one can determine that the U.S. government is paying billions of dollars not to Ukraine directly, but to private American mega-corporations, who then sell weapons to Ukraine. To quote the US Department of Defense, aid provided to Ukraine is under the “Lend-Lease Act” which implies the funding and aid is expected to be repaid, one way or another. What people don’t focus on are the repayment terms. Rather than having to pay the U.S. back with cash, the United States of America has organized for their “loan” to be paid off by making agricultural land in Ukraine accessible to foreign investors. This clearly suggests this proxy war (provoked by NATO and the U.S.) has not put a dent in the U.S’s pocket, but rather has filled it to the brim.
For those interested in investing, Raytheon Technologies, Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, L3 Harris Technologies and other American defense contractors are all primary stakeholders in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, meaning it’s been a bullish season for these S&P-500 listed companies. But, how big are these contracts? A Reuters article published in May of 2022 explained that “the U.S. has provided Ukraine with “$1.7 billion in security assistance”. Unsurprisingly, this number has skyrocketed exponentially, reaching $46.3 billion in military aid according to The Council on Foreign Relations. In summary, America supplies Ukraine with weapons by way of American companies, but the $46.3 billion doesn’t all go towards direct weapon purchases. Rather, overall military support is divided into three categories: the first two being “security assistance” and “weapons + equipment”. Such money has gone to US defense contractors mentioned previously, formulating $41.8 billion (USD) of the US’s total military spending. This leaves us with $4.5 billion from the total military spending which has been allocated to “grants & loans” provided through “the Foreign Military Financing Program”.
But how is the United States going to get that money back, one might ask? The answer is quite simple; through Zelensky’s “Land Reform to Unlock Ukraine’s Investment Potential”, Western and more specifically American companies were allowed to buy and own agricultural land in Ukraine. Most notably, Relief Web discussed the corruption found in the “Land Reform” initiative, labeling it as “the Takeover of Ukraine’s Agricultural Land”. Another source lists the most prominent companies involved in this corporate takeover of agricultural land: to begin, JPM Chase & JP Morgan Clearing Corp collectively own 15.7% of a Danish company called Trigon Agri which owns 52,000 hectares of agricultural land in Ukraine. To add on, a Texan investment company called SigmaBleyzer now owns 62% of a Ukrainian agriculture company called Agrogeneration, which owns 120,000 hectares.
Moreover, Blackstone, the trillion dollar corporation, is also involved in the corporate takeover of agricultural land in Ukraine, an extremely fertile country that supplies much of the world’s grain. The likes of Presidential Candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr. also discussed the U.S’s overall economic gain from financing Ukraine militarily in the NATO-provoked Russian invasion. He went on to discuss Blackrock’s involvement in Ukraine. The deal between Blackrock and the Ukraine Development Fund is displayed as a source of pride by the Ukrainian presidency. Circling back to Kennedy, in a recent campaign video the presidential candidate highlighted other companies who have been recorded to buy agricultural land in Ukraine; being Dupont, Cargill, and Monsanto. Unsurprisingly, all of these companies are also owned by Blackrock.
In sum, all the evidence provided suggests that the U.S. has a heavy yet concealed presence in Ukraine and has fueled many American industries by getting involved in the war. The direct involvement of the US’s military-industrial complex is crystal clear, while mega-financial corporations are discretely involved in the silent takeover of Ukrainian agricultural land. In the end, the Russian-Ukrainian war suggests that the U.S’s grand scheme has proven to be effective once again, allowing for the U.S economy to drastically benefit from “funding” this war. The reality is, the United States has managed to drastically move money and sprinkle it across many American sectors.
The US-Israeli Alliance & The Middle East
Israel is quite a unique case since it’s been heavily funded by the United States for years on end. The current devastation taking place in Gaza resulted in a need to increase military aid headed toward the Israeli occupation, adding “roughly $2 billion” to the $3.8 billion it already sends Israel annually. As aforementioned, the money headed toward Israel, America’s “greatest ally”, is an investment that reaps great rewards rather than being a burden. We’ve made it clear that the U.S. benefits from funding Ukraine in two ways: by giving their private defense sector a fat paycheck that equates to tens of billions of dollars, while also managing to provide other sectors with some of the most fertile land in the world. But how is the U.S. benefiting by funding Israel militarily? The answer is, in a myriad of ways that far exceed economic gain. Firstly, Israel plays an important role in solidifying the U.S. as a key player in the Middle East by enlarging America’s geopolitical sphere. As a result, the U.S. devours the natural resources found in the region.
In 1948, Zionist Jews invaded and brutally colonized Palestine, effectively displacing 85% of the indigenous population while killing tens of thousands of Palestinians. Ever since then, Israel has played a key role in serving American interests. On multiple occasions, President Joe Biden has claimed that “if there were no Israel, we’d have to invent one”. The current President had a strong point in his remark about Israel, for it is truly the most serviceable and lucrative investment the U.S. could’ve made. After the Islamic revolution in Iran and the demise of the Shah’s regime, a pivotal intelligence source fell with the revolution’s rise, weakening America’s intelligence in the Middle East. Thus, the U,S’s dependence on Israel’s intelligence became necessary. According to the Jewish Virtual Library “the United States has little alternative but to depend on Israel for much of its Middle Eastern human intelligence because the CIA’s capability has diminished”. To add to the apparent CIA’s weakness in the region, “the CIA’s Lebanon station was virtually wiped out in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in
Beirut”. This pushed for an increased dependence on collaborative intelligence between the United States and Israel, proving the dire need “for an Israel” in the Middle East.
To point out a few examples where the US held operations with the colossal support of Israeli intelligence, one may refer to the infiltration of ISIS in 2014. Israel provided the US with crucial intelligence reports that detailed who and where ISIS members were posted, allowing the US to strike ISIS and effectively weaken the terrorist organization. Another instance that occurred in 2020 was the killing of the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. “It was learned that Israel shared with the U.S. intelligence three cell phone numbers used by Soleimani in the hours before American drones unleashed hellfire missiles on the Iranian general,” said the aforementioned source. Ultimately, Israel has been responsible for providing the U.S. with central intelligence that has effectively led America to achieve their military objectives far more efficiently while maintaining minimal U.S. casualties. There are scores of historical instances where Israel has shared its intelligence with the U.S, even tracking back to the Cold War. In the end, Israel’s intelligence has paved the way for the superpower to gain and maintain dominance in the Middle Eastern region by providing America with critical information, thereby allowing America to dominate the region.
To further add insult to injury, America has been profiting off Arab countries’ misfortune. As aforementioned, Israel provides the U.S. with all the intelligence required for it to optimally attack its Middle Eastern enemies. Before one explores the atrocities that the US has committed in the Middle East, we must understand why. In Iraq’s case, Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime was ironically allied with the United States before Bush’s brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq. What changed? Many say it was the wars that Saddam Hussien provoked in the region along with the weapons of mass destruction Iraq supposedly possessed. Although, if we refer to the history of US-Iraq relations, America heavily supported Iraq during its barbaric war with Iran. So what resulted in the U.S. ousting Saddam from power in 2003? It’s quite simple; in 2000, Saddam Hussein started selling Iraqi oil in the euro rather than the dollar. This provoked the United States and threatened its currency’s strength.
Before 1971, the U.S. dollar was backed by gold (an essential commodity that dictated the dollar’s strength). After Richard Nixon decided to suspend the dollar’s convertibility to gold, the only support system maintaining the dollar’s superiority was the U.S’s superior and excelling economy that championed over other competing economies. Now though, the U.S. needed to guard its currency’s stability by all means. They were able to do so by creating the petrodollar in 1973, just 2 years after the US dollar became a fiat currency. To shift back to our topic of focus, when Saddam Hussein suddenly began selling Iraqi oil in the Euro, this created fear in America; its hegemonic status was being questioned by a small but oil-rich country. The worry wasn’t about one country ditching the petrodollar system; rather, the U.S. feared a domino effect as a result of this action. A domino effect that could cripple USA’s currency and end its reign as emperor of the world. Therefore, the smartest course of action available to the US was to invade Iraq, oust Saddam, and instill a pro-western “democratic” regime. Doing this sent any other country who sought to defy the US a clear message, portraying the power they possess, and how they would use it against anyone standing in their way.
Israel and its leadership played an active role in instigating this heinous destabilizing invasion and for quite a good reason too. According to Sharon’s senior advisor, Ranaan Gissin, “any postponement of an attack on Iraq at this stage will serve no purpose”. On top of that, Benjamin Netanyahu (current Israeli Prime Minister) personally went before the US’s congress as a private citizen begging the US to declare war on Iraq. When the U.S declared war on Iraq in 2003, both the U.S. and Israel enjoyed the innumerable advantages that came with the destruction of Saddam’s regime and the Iraqi nation as a whole. Israel was no longer militarily threatened by Iraq’s aggressive foreign policy towards it (which it had been: Iraq striking Israel with 42 Scud missiles on top of the persistent hostility showcased against the Israeli Occupation). On the U.S’s part, it prevented Iraq from getting away with selling petrol in the euro. In addition, the regime change enabled Western petroleum companies to enter the oil-rich Iraqi land that was once unavailable to them. An article from CNN states “Before the 2003 invasion, Iraq’s domestic oil industry was fully nationalized and closed to Western oil companies. A decade of war later, it is largely privatized and utterly dominated by foreign firms”.
It’s quite evident that the U.S. does not enter wars that economically harm it or its allies. Israel happens to be one of those key allies. So far, we’ve come to learn that Israel’s alliance serves the U.S. in two purposeful manners. First, it provides the US with crucial intelligence in the region, allowing America to surveil and therefore dominate the Middle East by always keeping tabs on its enemies. It also uses this intelligence to coordinate precise attacks against its enemies, while minimizing suffrage and losses (on the US’s end at least). Secondly, the Israeli-American alliance plays a vital role in maintaining the U.S’s “innocent” and “justice-seeking” narrative. Whenever the U.S. desires to strike its opposition, it justifies its violence in the name of proactive defense from greater dangers (ie. alleged WMD in Iraq). This soft power approach would not be available to such a great extent had Israel not been painted as the bullied child in the Middle East. Conveniently, this bullied child has an older brother whose greed for power and money is justified by defending its allies in the region. Therefore, Israel is undoubtedly the most profitable project the U.S. invests to this very day.
Conclusive Remarks
To conclude, America has shown prevalence throughout many parts of the world, exercising its hegemony by constantly involving itself in economic and military foreign affairs. We first learned that the U.S. funding Ukraine turned out to be a great example of how the U.S. can profit by funding wars abroad. In this particular conflict, America profited in two significant ways that have caused Ukraine to lose a lot of control over its economy, shifting that control to the West generally and the U.S. in particular. America was able to mobilize its industrial military complex by providing private U.S. contractors with billions of dollars to supply Ukraine with weapons and equipment. Moreover, the U.S. provides Ukraine with financial aid to help strengthen their national defense and reinvigorate their dying economy. But, as all things do, the money provided to Ukraine came with a catch; to make agricultural land in Ukraine available to the West. After doing so, we have recorded many American investments penetrating Ukraine’s farming an agricultural sector, which ultimately decentralized the wealth and control from Ukrainian citizens’ and national investors’ hands to the likes of American conglomerates such as Blackrock and Blackstone.
Looking at other examples, the Middle East is quite a compelling case study given the great amount of U.S. interjections found in the region. It’s been discovered that one of the primary reasons for the U.S’s success in dominating the region was due to Israel’s active role in providing central intelligence to the U.S. (given the CIA’s weakness in the region). This vital intelligence has helped America achieve its objectives in the region with ease, thus giving the US an upper hand in the Middle East. Moreover, the US has been able to justify its brutal invasions in the Middle East in the name of defending and protecting its allies. Israel plays a vital role in pushing the U.S’s soft power agenda by appearing to be a cornered country in dire need of U.S. intervention. We saw that take place multiple times, but most significantly when it came to the Iraqi invasion. Looking at the bigger picture, the primary reason as to why the US is prevalent in the Middle East (having funded many proxy wars, on top of the countless wars it has started), is purely for economic gain. Iraq’s invasion stands as a great example where the US took down a regime (supposedly in the name of democracy and the safety of its allies), while in reality, it was a war for oil and maintaining its superior position in the world hierarchy. What they claim to stand for has simply been a smokescreen for economic gain. In the end, a country that was built on war has learned how to profit from war. Nothing too surprising.
About the Author: Rashid F Kassim is an American & Jordanian citizen born on November 6, 2004, of Palestinian descent. He is the ‘Founder, Chairman & CEO’ of Kassim Co, a procurement & purchase optimization company. Rashid received his high school education in Amman, Jordan in the ‘International Academy of Amman’, and is currently receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at ‘Loyola Marymount University’ in Los Angeles, California.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of 9awtak.com, its staff, or other contributors.
