While world is glowing with enthusiasm after G-20 efforts to restore world economy with an US$ 1.1 trillion program it may be some idea to put this act to scale with other ongoing program. The other one in my mind is expected to cost US$ 1.5 trillion in 2009.As side-effect consumption of the services and products of this later programme there is unforeseen amount of deaths and destruction worldwide.
The other programme – world’s annual military expenditures – is closely linked to interests of military-industrial complex.It is not once per life project, it seems to be never-ending story with steady growing some 6 % yearly.Besides gaining strength by itself MIC is today expanding with new forms for wider influence.
MIC
Military-industrialcomplex (MIC) is a concept commonly used to refer to policy relationships between governments, national armed forces, and industrial support they obtain from the commercial sector in political approval for research, development, production, use, and support for military training, weapons, equipment, and facilities within the national defence and security policy. It is a type of iron triangle. (More Wikipedia).
New MIC forms
Today’s MIC is expanded from its Cold War original to MIMAC (Military-Industrial-Academic-Media Complex), MIMEN (Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment-Network) or to some other combination.
In Academic world neuro-weapons and diverse applications of numerous branches of research that blur the distinctions between government, military, and medical, technological and scientific research. (More e.g. in Leslie, Stuart W: The Cold War and American Science: The Military-Industrial-Academic Complex at MIT and Stanford. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993)
One example of Academic connection is Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh is one of the largest academic military contractors in the country. Many of the software guidance systems, general communications networking systems and robotics technology used in Iraq were developed at CMU. So much so that some have nicknamed CMU, Carnegie Military University.
Connections to media can be e.g. like General Electric-NBC –relation or wider to some specific sector like computer war games. (More e.g. Der Derian, James:Virtuous War: Mapping the Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment Network. Boulder: Westview Press, 2001).Growing contingent of corporate, entertainment, academic, media collaborators are bringing war-making systems near everyone’s lives. (More NickTurse:The Complex - How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, 2009)
And the relevance with EP election is…
Are MEPs and EP still in future dealing with eco-bulbs and curvature of cucumber or can they find issues which really matters?
More about topic read/listen Masters Of War by Bob Dylan and more of my views in my BalkanBlog.
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