The largest military and defence corporations of NATO member states have seen a 21.5% boost in market value in 2022 amid the military operation in Ukraine and rearmament in Western Europe, Moscow daily Vedomosti reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper was citing data from Defence News and Trading View analytics.

The corporations’ combined market capitalization increased from $579 billion in December 2021 to $703 billion in December 2022, according to the estimates.

The ranking included 25 companies with a capitalization of over $1 billion which are traded on the stock market and have military products dominating in their revenues, and are also actively involved in arms supplies to Ukraine.

Authors of the report name German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall as the top gainer over the last 12 months, with a 122% surge in share price. French drone and missile producer Thales saw its market value rise 54%. American defence contractor Northrop Grumman was up 44%, while stock in HIMARS rocket launchers maker Lockheed Martin gained 42%.

Other notable mentions in the report include BAE Systems (+40%), Kongsberg Gruppen (+37%), General Dynamics (+24%), and Raytheon Technologies (+19%).

The report pointed out that the value of NATO’s military giants was soaring while the overall Western corporate sector sank by 16% last year, according to the S&P 1200 index, suggesting that arms manufacturers were likely the main beneficiaries of the political crisis in Europe.

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Dave C.

 United Nations agencies are calling for urgent action to protect the most vulnerable children in the 15 countries hardest hit by an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis.

Currently, more than 30 million children in the 15 worst-affected countries suffer from wasting – or acute malnutrition – and 8 million of these children are severely wasted, the deadliest form of undernutrition. 

“This situation is likely to deteriorate even further in 2023,” said QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “…We need urgent action now to save lives, and to tackle the root causes of acute malnutrition, working together across all sectors.” 

“Today’s cascading crises are leaving millions of children wasted and have made it harder for them to access key services. Wasting is painful for the child, and in severe cases, can lead to death or permanent damage to children’s growth and development. We can and must turn this nutrition crisis around …” Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

“More than 30 million children are acutely malnourished across the 15 worst-affected countries, so we must act now and we must act together. It is critical that we collaborate to strengthen social safety nets and food assistance to ensure Specialized Nutritious Foods are available to women and children who need them the most.” David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP)

“The global food crisis is also a health crisis, and a vicious cycle: malnutrition leads to disease, and disease leads to malnutrition,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO).”Urgent support is needed now…”

https://reliefweb.int/attachments/ed013fbf-e0e0-4db0-b0f5-eb9850c6ef4f/FINAL_Jan12_GAP_PressRelease.pdf

Academics analysed data in ExxonMobil’s internal documents and determined that its research predicted how burning fossil fuels would warm the planet even though the company publicly denied the link.

On the 24th January, 2023, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will announce the setting to The Doomsday Clock for 2023. It currently stands at one hundred seconds to Midnight.

“Seoul could arm itself with tactical nuclear weapons if tensions with Pyongyang continue to grow, South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has said. It comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said  his country would develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile as the US and South Korea were seeking to “isolate and stifle” Pyongyang.

“If the [North Korean nuclear] problem becomes more serious, the Republic of Korea may deploy tactical nuclear weapons or come to possess its own nuclear weapons,” Yoon, who became president last year, said during a government meeting as quoted by local media.

“If that happens, it won’t take long, and with our science and technology, we could have [nuclear weapons] sooner as time passes,” Yoon added

The US pulled its nuclear forces from South Korea in 1991 following disarmament talks with Pyongyang and Moscow. Relations have since deteriorated, with North Korea stepping up missile tests last year and enshrining the right to use nuclear weapons into national law in September. The escalation has rattled Seoul, which is now seeking to strengthen its military alliance with the US and deepen cooperation with Japan.

Yoon said that the allies were discussing holding new joint military drills, including tabletop and computer simulations, as well as exercises involving the “delivery means for nuclear weapons.”

US President Joe Biden, however, denied that Washington was considering joint nuclear drills with South Korea.

Pyongyang has insisted that its launches are a response to US-South Korean exercises, which North Korea views as a national security threat.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for the country to develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and boost its nuclear arsenal amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, state-run media reported.

Pyongyang requires “overwhelming military power” to defend itself as Washington and “our undoubted enemy” Seoul try to “isolate and stifle” North Korea with US nuclear assets deployed in South Korean territory, Kim said on Sunday, according to the state-run KCNA news agency.

During a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), the country’s leader insisted that a new ICBM capable of a “quick nuclear counter-strike” must be developed by North Korea.

Kim stressed the importance of “mass-producing tactical nuclear weapons,” saying “an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal” would be the “main orientation” of North Korea’s defence strategy in 2023, KCNA reported.

 Kim praised the country’s defence industry for delivering 30 new 600mm super-large multiple rocket launchers to the military. He described the nuclear-capable system as the country’s “core offensive weapon,” which can strike anywhere in South Korea with surprise and precision launches.

“We have declared our resolute will to respond with nuke for nuke and an all-out confrontation for an all-out confrontation,” he warned, as quoted by KCNA.

North Korea carried out a record number of missile tests in 2022, some of which involved ICBMs, according to calculations by Western media outlets. And it has already fired a short-range ballistic missile off its east coast in the early hours of the new year. Washington and Seoul have claimed that the North is gearing up for its nuclear test since 2017.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol warned that North Korea would continue with its nuclear and missile provocations, insisting that Seoul’s military should respond to such moves with clear retaliation, according to his office.

Tensions have been on the rise between the two neighbours since Yoon came to power in May and declared a “peace through strength” policy, which is based on further boosting military ties with the US. In late December, Seoul announced an increase in joint drills with the Americans, with 20 such exercises planned for the first half of 2023 alone.”

RT 1|23

Dave C

 Ten humanitarian crises that didn’t make media headlines in 2022:

Angola – 3.8 million people do not have enough to eatMalawi – 37 percent of children are malnourishedCentral African Republic – 3.1 million people in need of humanitarian aidZambia – 50 percent of people live on 1.90 dollars a dayChad – Second highest maternal mortality rate in the worldBurundi – 50 percent of children under five are malnourishedZimbabwe – 7 million people need humanitarian aidMali – Eighth-highest child mortality rate in the worldCameroon – 3.9 million people in needNiger – 4.4 million people are acutely food insecure

  Which? the consumer champion found products like expensive dishwashers, TVs, and washing machines – which might be expected to last more than a decade – are “being abandoned” by brands.

A lack of software support from firms means devices do not get updated. Smart appliances could stop working properly after just two years because manufacturers are failing to provide tech updates. 

Which? looked at popular smart TVs, dishwashers, washing machines, smartphones, inkjet printers, smartwatches and fitness trackers. It found that hardly any brands even came close to matching their expected lifespan with their smart update policies.

Tressell And Me: A Radio Ballad | Alun Parry (bandcamp.com)

 Recession fears in the UK are forcing businesses to mothball hiring plans to keep costs at a minimum, a survey by auditing company KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) released on Tuesday showed.

Hiring for permanent staff in the UK slumped for a third month in December, falling at the quickest pace since the pandemic lockdowns of early 2021. Vacancies grew at the slowest rate since February 2021 and were accompanied by the weakest pay raise in 20 months, the report said.

“The jobs market looks less than rosy at the start of 2023,” a partner in skills and productivity at KPMG UK, Claire Warnes said, adding that “vacancy growth rates are trending down again this month from a historically high peak in July 2021.”

According to REC CEO Neil Carberry, a slowdown in permanent placements is not unusual in December but “this one comes as part of a wider softening trend in the permanent market.”

Starting salaries for permanent staff and pay rates for temporary workers grew at the slowest rate since April 2021, the survey showed, indicating that employers have grown more cautious about hiring and halted plans to take on workers until January, awaiting the next report on this year’s outlook.

“Industrial relations turmoil in many sectors, along with the scarcity of available staff in all sectors, means that wage inflation may soften only slightly in the near term,” Warnes said.

Inflation remains one of the biggest concerns of recruitment companies in the UK amid forecasts that the British economy looks set to contract in 2023. The Bank of England has lifted its key rate nine times since December 2021 in an effort to rein in spiralling price growth.

RT 11\1\23

Dave C.

 As trade unionists once again face the prospect of persecution by the State with new proposed anti-strike laws, it is a timely to remember the Shrewsbury Two, pickets who ended up in jail, Desmond Warren and Ricky Tomlinson (now the famous actor).

Taken from The Key To My Cell by Des Warren.

I have spent a week in jail, and people in there and various other people, not including my counsel, have told me that it was always a mistake to make a speech from the dock, because whatever you are going to get will be doubled. I tried to explain to them that the system that operates is purely for the upper class, and I don’t expect any leniency or mercy from it, so I’ll continue anyway.

It has been said in this court that this trial had nothing do with politics. Among ten million trade unionists in this country I doubt if you would find one who would agree with that statement. It is a fact of life that Acts of Parliament have been passed and picketing and strikes are looked upon as a political act …

At this point, Mr. Justice Mais interrupted to say: ‘You must not use this opportunity as a political platform,’ but I ignored him and continued:

It therefore follows that every action taken in furtherance of an industrial dispute also becomes a political act. There are even those who say it is a challenge to the law of the land if a man decides not to work more than an agreed number of hours, and bans overtime. This is something known to many trade unionists as politically motivated interference by governments acting on behalf of, and under political pressure from the employers, and it now means that no trade unionist can enter freely into negotiations with the employers, and they can’t withdraw their labour – the only thing they possess as a bargaining lever – without being accused of setting out to wreck the economy or break the law.

On the other hand, employers, by their contempt of laws governing safety requirements, are guilty of causing the deaths of a great many workers, and yet they are not dealt with before the courts. Mr. Bumble said: ‘The law is an ass.’ If he were here now he might draw the conclusion that the law is, quite clearly, an instrument of the state, to be used in the interests of a tiny minority against the majority. It is biased; it is class law, and nowhere has that been demonstrated more than in the prosecution case in this trial. The very nature of the charges, the delving into ancient Acts of Parliament, dredging up conspiracy, shows this to be so.

Was there a conspiracy? Ten members of the jury have said there was. There was a conspiracy, but not by the pickets. The conspiracy began with the miners giving the government a good hiding last year. It developed when the government was forced to perform legal gymnastics in getting five dockers out of jail after they had only just been put there. The conspiracy was between the Home Secretary, the employers and the police. It was not done with a nod and a wink. It was conceived after pressure from Tory Members of Parliament who demanded changes in picketing laws.

Of course, there was a very important reason why no police witness said he had seen any evidence of conspiracy, unlawful assembly or affray. The question was hovering over the case from the very first day: why were there no arrests on the 6 September? That would have led to the even more important question of when was the decision to proceed taken. Where did it come from? What instructions were issued to the police? And by whom? There was your conspiracy.

‘I’m innocent of the charges and I shall appeal. But there will be a more important appeal going out to every member of the trade union movement in this country. Nobody here must think they can walk away from here and forget what has happened here. Villains or victims, we are all part of something bigger than this trial.

The working class movement cannot allow this verdict to go unchallenged. It is yet one more step along the road to fascism, and I would remind you that the greatest heroes in Nazi Germany were those who challenged the law, when it was used as a political weapon by a fanatical gang for a minority of greedy, evil men.

The jury in this trial were asked to look upon the word ‘intimidation’ as having the ordinary everyday meaning. My interpretation is ‘to make timid’, or ‘to dispirit’, and when the pickets came to this town to speak to the building workers it was not with the intention of intimidating them. We came here with the intention of instilling the trade union spirit into them, and not to make them timid, but to give them the courage to fight the intimidation of the employers in this area.

Ricky Tomlinson wrote a poem about this travesty of justice and Alun Parry put music to it.

Alun Parry’s tribute to Des Warren

Pharmaceutical giant Moderna faced angry backlash on Tuesday following the CEO’s announcement that the firm is considering pricing its Covid-19 vaccine somewhere between $100 and $130 per dose in the United States. Stephane Bancel, Moderna’s billionaire CEO, defended the proposed price range in an interview on the sidelines of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, telling The Wall Street Journal that he believes “this type of pricing is consistent with the value” of the vaccine.

The upper end of that range, according to the People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA), would represent a 4,000% markup above the cost of manufacturing the shot, which experts have pegged at roughly $2.85 per dose.

“The sheer greed is obscene,” said PVA policy co-lead Julia Kosgei. “This vaccine isn’t just Moderna’s, it was developed in collaboration with a government agency based on decades of publicly-funded research,” Kosgei said. “It is the people’s vaccine—and it should be available and affordable for everyone, everywhere.” In 2020, Moderna admitted that 100% of the funding for its vaccine development program came from the federal government.

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) warned in a recent policy brief that the commercial price of coronavirus shots “could discourage vaccination.”

“The suggested average price for Covid-19 vaccines after commercialization ($96 to $115 per dose) is significantly higher than the commercial price for the annual flu vaccine ($18 to 28 per dose), and could be a cost barrier for the uninsured and underinsured, who have no guaranteed mechanism for receiving COVID-19 (or any) vaccines once federal supplies are depleted.”

‘The Sheer Greed Is Obscene’: Moderna Plans 4,000% Markup for Covid Vaccine (commondreams.org)