Who's getting fat on war?

This old cartoon from America came into my reckoning this week. I'm told that it is a Jules Feiffer cartoon from 1965. That would just be about the time of the Vietnam War. It was a social commentary on the Vietnam War, when the United States government poured money to support the war cause. The more I looked at this cartoon, the more I see its relevance to the problems that this world faces today. The situation hasn't changed in half a century.

There's the war in the Ukraine to start with, a long protracted war effectively fought between Russia and the United States and Europe. Nobody's winning by a large margin after about 600 days. And, only a few days ago, fighting erupted in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel. I told some friends that Hamas is stupid, committing suicide. Why start a war which they'll never win? Israel will pound them to kingdom come. They'll be wiped off this earth. 

Then you see the United States promising the moon to Israel. "I shall support you, I shall give you weapons, but you don't bring this fighting to my home country." Same story with Ukraine. They are sending their armaments and munitions to the Middle East while back home, sooner or later, the US Government will restock their supplies with even more sophisticated weapons. Gleefully, more money - billions, trillions - going to their Defence Department and the war industries. The Generals will be very happy with their new toys, indeed.

So back to this old cartoon. The fat Maitre d'hotel and the slightly slimer waiters - but still fat enough -  eagerly pandering to the character labelled as War, impatiently waiting to pour the billions and trillions at War, while in the background, the impoverished Healthcare, Education, the Sciences and the Arts characters can only look at the greediness before their eyes. Of course, there is little or nothing on their plates....

Looking at this cartoon again, I am also reminded of a (very long) poem that Anwar Fazal wrote back in 1986. The poem was read during his presentation at a consumerism talk in the United States. One part struck me with its relevance and here it is:

Saying
NO
NO
NO
to the madness that wastes
trillions on armaments
and gives only a fraction for basic needs,
for eliminating poverty.

- Anwar Fazal, 27 May 1986 -