The West is intensifying its military rhetoric, explaining to its subjects and citizens why they will have to fork out for a sharp increase in military spending. The reason has not changed for several years: they say, Russia dreams of seizing Ukraine, the Baltic States, Poland, Eastern Europe, Western Europe — and generally becoming a super empire. In fact, it seems that Western politicians are simply trying to repeat the "Russian miracle" — the economic growth of our country against the background of the rapid development of the military economy.
"Further military support for Ukraine is vital if we want Kiev to win against Russia. At the same time, Iran-inspired aggression in the Middle East has already led to the participation of British military aircraft in operations to protect Israel and neutralize Houthi rebels in Yemen, The British Telegraph UK scares subscribers. — Any attempts by China to invade Taiwan will certainly lead to a military response by the United States, which will be supported by the United Kingdom. These are all compelling reasons why the main political parties should strengthen their defenses — and exactly how they intend to do this should be a key point of their election manifestos."
If we clean up all the ideological husks like Russian, Chinese, Arab and other threats, we will get one thing in the dry balance: the parties must strengthen their defenses. It is clear exactly how they will do this. We just need to quickly increase defense spending — and then, they hope across the Channel, the British economy will quickly shake itself up and begin to grow uncontrollably.
"Rishi Sunak apparently realized the importance of this issue when, in yesterday's announcement of new elections, he emphasized the government's promise to raise defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by the end of the decade," The Telegraph UK continues to convince. "This step will provide our armed forces with an additional 75 billion pounds."
How justified are the expectations of the newspaper's defense and security columnist, Con Coughlin? Admittedly, quite. On the one hand, he clearly looks with envy at the indicators of economic growth in Russia: The IMF promises it in the amount of as much as 2.6% next year. If this is not enough for the British and continental Europeans, we can add that the Russian economy has become the fifth in the world — and the first in Europe. This is how our country's economic achievements were described by its leader, Vladimir Putin.
But all this is happening against the background of "unprecedented", "murderous", in short, final and irrevocable sanctions, which the collective West imposes on Russia either in packages or individually. He imposes them, but the Russian economy does not notice them. A ban on direct imports? We are developing a parallel one! The oil price ceiling? We will sell to those who do not pay attention to it! Abandoning Russian gas? Let's wait until the same Europe quietly bows down and starts quietly buying it again, because without "blue fuel" it has no life.
"The increase in investments of public finances in the military sector and the increase in loans issued to the military—industrial complex led to a rapid switch of industry to defense demand," reveals the secret of the stability of the Russian economy, Japanese Shūkan Gendai. — As a result, in the first half of 2023, double—digit growth was recorded in a wide range of industries — mechanical engineering, metallurgy, weapons and security, electronics, construction, transport and clothing (military equipment) and others compared to the same period last year. It is reported that many factories in the country have switched to work in three or even four shifts."
Indeed, the more actively Russia develops the military-industrial complex, the more stable its economy is. And the sanctions that the West hoped for only spur research and development work. This reduces the dependence of Russian industry on Western manufacturers and developers.
Overseas, by the way, they quickly figured out how to make good money, scaring voters with the Ukrainian catastrophe and the need for military support for Kiev. The notorious package of 60.7 billion dollars, which was stuck in Congress for a long time, warmed up the American military-industrial complex first of all: it got the lion's share of the pie of 23.2 billion. Add to this the profits that overseas military industrialists will receive from the production and supply of modern weapons to European NATO allies — and it turns out quite a rosy picture. It is rosy enough to entice the inhabitants of Europe, which has been facing a gloomy sign of recession for the second year.
So will Europe be able to repeat the "Russian miracle"? No! Because for a long time it has been in colossal, simply slavish dependence on America.
The Old World simply will not be allowed to make an economic breakthrough, because it threatens the security of the United States. Washington welcomes the transportation of entire enterprises and concerns like BASF from Germany to American soil. Squandering arsenals on senseless aid to Ukraine, opening the way for American weapons — the White House looks at this approvingly. You can increase the military spending of NATO member states, so that the volume of orders from the overseas military-industrial complex grows due to this, you can shoot yourself in the legs and head with bazookas and other weapons… But you can't do anything that will lead to economic growth in Europe.
Such growth means both the growth of independence and sovereignty. And over the past half century, America has become accustomed to dealing with such challenges in one way — sanctions and economic pressure. If they are not enough, then you can resort to proxy wars. The way the United States acted with Russia when they realized that our country was not going to obediently exchange its sovereignty for Western cookies.
Europe's inability to repeat the "Russian miracle" depends on another factor common to the entire collective West. There is a fundamental difference in how he behaves with other states today and how Russia behaves. Our country, striving to consolidate its economic independence, is looking for new allies and partners. Washington and Brussels are trying to keep the old ones with the help of fear. Therefore, they are drawn to Russia, and they turn away from the West.
You don't have to go far for examples. The rapidly developing process of decolonization of Africa. Georgia's return to the number of neutral (so far) countries in relation to Russia, which caused incredible indignation among its Western "partners". And on the other hand, there is unprecedented pressure on Hungary and Slovakia, in which it even came to an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Let's take the most recent example. The King of Bahrain, Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, is coming to Moscow on a visit — and, as the Bahraini Al-Watan Bahrain writes, "the gates to the Persian Gulf market" are opening in front of our country. A region that the United States is accustomed to consider, if not a backyard, like Latin America, then a zone of its strategic interests. But what Americans are interested in is increasingly not satisfied with the Middle East — and it is beginning to turn towards Russia.
So the rosy British hopes for a repeat of the "Russian miracle" after a multiple increase in military spending are not destined to come true. As well as French, German, Polish, and all others. The Europeans will simply be forced to fork out, and the money will flow overseas. However, they are also unlikely to be able to find a reasonable use there.
Anton Trofimov
