THE world last Saturday observed International Day of Peace, but this observance

could be considered ironic because currently we are enveloped in several wars, violent conflicts stemming from ethnic and other strife, terrorism and of course domestic violence.
In fact, the history of the “civilised” world could be described as one of wars and violence, as man has unleashed immeasurable terror and atrocities on man in the name of religion, politics, ethnic and tribal superiority, ownership of land and resources and even love.
In more recent history, we have had countless terrible wars such as World Wars I and II, the Vietnam War, the Palestinian War and several others in the region,  which are still raging, the Rwanda Genocide, Iraq and Afghanistan wars etc.
And only recently another war between the U.S. and its allies and Syria was averted as the former threatened military strikes in retaliation against the Syrian government.
In addition to the wars between countries we have terrorism and brutal violence stemming from the illicit drug trade and other criminal activities.
Increasing domestic violence is now a huge problem in several countries and societies. So at every level of human existence there is pervasive violenc.
What propels human violence and wars is a complex issue, but from the history and violence we know about, it is clear that wars were used for conquest of lands and resources, subjugation and enslavement and imposition of one’s will, culture and values.
In the modern era the plausible theory of wars being necessary to sustain the economies of some countries has also been advanced. And therefore those countries frequently engineer and trigger military conflicts as lasting world peace would be against their economic interests.
The facts and figures pertaining to the military industrial complex strongly supports this theory, as Gilbert Mercier in his article “Global War Economy: The Empire of the US Military Industrial Complex” made some pertinent and startling revelations.

“Arguably, since entering World War II, the United States of America’s economy has been a war economy. Starting or fostering wars became essentially, independently of geopolitical reasons, a “good” business proposition. The early 1940s marked the start of the era of  systematic wars for profit: war defined as the ultimate capitalist enterprise. The extraordinary war efforts of World War II turned the U.S.  into a giant global arms factory for the war in Europe and in the Pacific. Manufacture for war was even, cynically, credited as being the main factor in ending the Great Depression that started in 1929.
He adds: “This permanent war business proposition is criminal in nature, but absolutely foolproof in terms of maximum returns on the investment. Money is made when the weapons are manufactured. They are used to kill millions and to destroy countries that eventually will get rebuilt through programs such as the Marshall Plan used in the aftermath of World War II in Europe.
“The blood-thirsty machine that is the US industrial-military complex makes billions at all three phases of the war industry process: the manufacture of ever more lethal and complex weapons systems, the destruction stage, and then finally the occupation and rebuilding phase in countries such as Germany, Japan, Korea, and more recently Iraq and Afghanistan. This war machine and its political associates always need new conflicts. The U.S. is the uncontested juggernaut of the war business or war for profit, defining the economy of permanent war.”
Mercier also noted: “According to a report released August 24, 2012 by the Congressional Research Service ( CRS), business has been booming for the industrial-military complex, with export of US weapons abroad increasing more than three times from $21.4 billion in 2010 to $66.3 billion in 2011. This is the largest increase for a single year in the history of US arms export. The U.S. is, by far, the largest arms dealer of the planet with 78.1 percent of the overall market. The CRS report puts Russia as a very distant second at $8.7 billion and Britain third at $3 billion
“The leading buyers of US weapons from 2004 to 2011 were Saudi Arabia with $75.7 billion; India with $46.6 billion; the United Arab Emirates(UAE) with $20.3 billion; Egypt at $14.3 billion and Pakistan at $13.2 billion. The accumulation of weapons in the Middle East sold by the U.S. to Saudi Arabia and the UAE — with the blessings of Israel — is unquestionably a  preparation for the next big profitable venture for the industrial-military complex: a war with Iran.”
The above revelations probably explains why the search for a lasting peace in the world is a long way off.