How Western Countries fuel war and poverty in Asia

Today’s world is beset with terrorism, violence, wars and extreme poverty. The top leaders, elites and corporation for their profit and greed have plunged the rest of the world into continuous warfare from one part of the world to another bringing untold destruction and suffering to mankind. The question is that how we are going to resolve these issues and get rid of the huge global spending on military (i.e. $1.6 trillion a year) and invest on development and poverty alleviation projects and programmes.

The shift in world military spending especially to the three big developing countries in Asia including India, Pakistan and China is a beginning of a new cold war in that region. These countries are spending maximum proportion of their revenue in buying military weapons and armaments while the statistics are mind boggling. This is beside the fact that millions of their countrymen are deprived of basic rights, food, shelter, education and health care.

A new book that highlights how the western obsession with war fuel poverty and conflicts in Asia and has created the monster of Military Industrial complex which acts against the interests of people everywhere in the world. “The Economics of Killing” shows how this monster is not only the cause of extreme poverty in the developing countries, but of 9/11 and the market crash of 2008. Written by Vijay Mehta, a peace activist and chair of Uniting for Peace, the book proposes how the world might move away from an economy based on war to one based on peace and co-operation, so we can tackle the biggest threats facing humanity: warmongering, extreme poverty and climate change.

In his book, The Economics of Killing, Vijay examines the dangers of peddling war; why does the West sell weapons to its enemies? Where did terrorists learn to make roadside bombs? How US attempts to block China’s model of development led directly to 2008’s financial crisis etc. Moreover the book also highlights the eminent threat of attack on Iran and its dire consequences for the rest of the Middle East region.

During the launch of the book in London, the Hon. Lord (Frank) Judd former minister for International development (1976 to 1977) and former director of Oxfam congratulated Vijay for producing ‘this important book’ at a time when the acceleration of the arms race in the Middle East is dangerously on the increase and when Britain is experiencing the human and economic cost of the war in Afghanistan.

The Economics of Killing advocates for a total shift from the mind-set of the current war economy that helps to install puppet governments in the developing world by arming them in order to keep their citizens in control in return for unlimited access to those country’s resources such as oil, gas and mineral to a peace mind-set of the gradual dismantlement of military complex. Vijay shows how the military industrial model can be replaced by adopting equitable policies for Disarmament, Demilitarisation and working for sustainable development thus ending the vicious cycle of violence and poverty.

If leaders and policy makers follow the solutions laid out in the book then that could be a first step towards a world with peace and prosperity. The book opens our mind about how the world operates not portrayed by the mainstream media.

The book is now available for sale £15 and can be obtained through Pluto Press at www.plutobooks.com.