I came across this report on BBC. It talked about the global military spending rising up by 4% in 2008 and going upto a record $1464 billion, which is a 45% growth compared to what was spent in say 1999. These are the figures compiled by the institute Sipri, which is a stockholm based institute. This is in complete contrast with the civilian aerospace and the airlines which are facing huge economic pressure. The defence industry seems to remain healthy. The various Peace-keeping operations also benefit defence firms – rose 11%. Missions were launched in trouble spots such as Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Now, my trouble is describing the military spending as a “growth industry” which is what the report goes on to say. How can military spending be ” growth industry”? It is something which is absolutely not useful . If at all, it is a necessary evil and nothing more than that!