Years after the end of the American war on Vietnam, which lasted nearly 20 years, official documents and American press leaks began to reveal and unfold the truth of a war, in which more than 58,000 American soldiers were killed, as well as more than 100,000 wounded and missing. The great surprise was that the main cause of that war, according to these documents, was a group of war brokers and businessmen with close ties to American weapon manufacturers. Of course, the goal was to increase the sales of these companies in a way that enhances their profitability and growth. It’s all about money.
The same experience is currently being repeated from another perspective. Two weeks ago, American billionaire Elon Musk proposed a possible agreement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, under which Ukraine would permanently cede Crimea to Russia. This is in addition to holding new referendums under the auspices of the United Nations to determine the fate of the territories controlled by Russia. Also, Ukraine would agree to become a neutral country. Musk asked Twitter users for their opinion of his plan, prompting sharp criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who strongly rejected this proposal.
A few days ago, Musk repeated his experience, but this time between China and Taiwan. He suggested the possibility of ending tensions between China and Taiwan by handing Beijing some control over Taiwan. It is known that the electric car company “Tesla” owned by the American billionaire runs a large factory in Shanghai. So Musk said he believed a conflict over Taiwan was inevitable and warned of its potential impact not only on Tesla, but also on Apple, the maker of iPhones, and on the economy more broadly. On the positive side, both the Russian and Chinese sides agreed to Musk’s proposals and considered it a good step in ending conflicts and wars.
In February, when the Internet in Ukraine was disrupted in the wake of the Russian attack, Musk responded to a tweet by a Ukrainian government official seeking help to explain that SpaceX’s satellite broadband service, Starlink, was available in Ukraine and that the company would send more support. “The cost of (SpaceX) to enable and support (Starlink) in Ukraine is about $80m so far. Our support for Russia is $0. We are pro-Ukraine,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
There is no doubt that money has a strong influence on economic structures around the world, as it is the beating heart of it. Naturally, whoever has more money will have more power and influence. At present, the largest companies have become the entity that gathers huge capital. With the passage of time and the frantic pursuit of profit, giant companies have emerged that possess financial and real estate assets and budgets equivalent to those of entire countries.
Among the most prominent of these companies are American companies specializing in various economic and commercial fields, such as the arms industry, petroleum, media, and banking. Due to the alliances and cartels between them, each of them has become dominant in the field in which it operates and exercises a kind of monopoly and control over the markets. More than that, these major companies have exceeded the scope of their work, to interfere directly and indirectly in American political decision-making, both internal and external, to ensure that they continue their business, increase their profits, and maintain their interests.
Under the special nature of the political system in the United States of America, and the policies of governance and elections there, the owners of money were able to form lobbies that worked to secure their interests until it came to the point of exchanging roles. We see, for example, a businessman becoming a seasoned politician, and we may see the latter entering the arena of commercial competition to become one of the wealthy.
Therefore, it can be noted that American politicians are indispensable to the owners of capital, and the latter are also indispensable to the politicians. They complement each other. Any American politician needs financial and media support from a certain economic bloc (often a major company), and in return, he guarantees its interests through political and economic decisions. Only the owners of huge wealth can donate it, in exchange for the continuation or change of the status quo for the benefit of the donor.
Big companies play a role in US political decision-making with the elements they possess of economic power and political influence. Its influence even extended to the people as well, with its enormous media power that shapes public opinion and controls tastes and moods.
Dr. Hatem Sadek: Professor at Helwan University
