Bad mercenaries and the good secrets they hide

At the risk of sounding wise after the event, news of the mutiny or attempted ‘coup’ in Russia by the Wagner mercenary army of Yevgeny Prigozhin did not sound authentic from the get go.

That is even if the people who we often run to, to legitimize such stories like the BBC, were reporting it with gusto - complete with in-depth analysis by experts.

For coups and mutinies to be successful they must have the elements of secrecy, surprise, swiftness, and suddenness.

This one was told on the mountain that it would take place yet the target; Moscow, was over 100 miles away.

It was like the perpetrators were alerting the hands that feed, clothe and arm them; that is the powerful, well equipped and staffed Russian Army, to prepare themselves for battle.

Whether it be true that the whole saga was planned after the fashion of the classic drama that reports a living man, dead, to spot out his enemies; who rejoice, is another matter.  

Or that Prigozhin was bought by elements in Western intelligence with a haul of cash to betray President Vladimir Putin and Russia is also something else.

Many noticed that on announcement of the coup, Western media catapulted Prigozhin from a ‘wanted war criminal’ to a freedom fighter. Now that he has abandoned his ‘coup’ ambitions he is back to square one.

It did not help matters that Putin who declared Wagner, ‘criminals’, who wou
ld face the consequence, forgave them and told them to leave the country, just like nothing had happened.

This whole concept of mercenary armies in the developed world is the important story here. They are a very useful tool for powerful states.

They help to destabilise foreign governments or protect them like the Wagner group has done in Ukraine, Sudan and Mali.

Then there was Robert Denard and Horatiu Potra, formerly of the French Foreign Legion, in various conflicts in Africa.

It is virtually impossible to have large organised armies, well armed and effectively deployed militants hiding in plain sight, if they do not have the backing of the State. Wagner fits into the picture very well.

They are estimated at about 50,000 men. Larger than entire armies of most countries.

Most developed countries, despite maintaining a pacific facade, are firmly into war as a means to survival.

The manufacture and production of military hardware is a very lucrative business. The estimated value of the trade in arms globally for 2020 alone was about US $112 billion.

Those are official figures which means it is much higher if one factors in the lucrative illegal trade in arms and ammunition. 

Curiously, in the US alone about 45 percent of the households had at least one gun in their possession in 2022.

The importance of holding a gun and the whole concept of conflict that dominates the sponsored media, which helps to firmly etch the concept of war in the minds of the citizen.

They grow up prepared and believing that war is part and parcel of life and is always inevitable.

Almost every important ceremony in the country organized by the state involves the display of military authority and might of some kind to sanitise and normalise the gun.

This includes funerals where volleys of gun salutes are shot even for religious leaders who live and speak against violence.

By the time citizens are drafted into armies at a young age they are used to the use and justification of war and conflict.

Some get the taste of war and witness violence first hand in the endless war zones such as Vietnam, Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq in the recent past.  

In future they will support or become the policy makers sounding war drums for the ‘defence of the motherland.’

The ones who don’t make it to that level and are not employable will then float around ready to be recruited into mercenary armies to keep the fire of conflict burning.

This acts for the pleasure of the arms manufacturers, dealers and all the opportunists who benefit from war.

Interestingly all this happens after the mayhem visited on humanity by the Second World War that ended in 1945.

The United Nations (UN) came out firmly to ensure peace. Its ambition was to turn swords into ploughshares.

But since then, the world has witnessed several armed conflicts spread across the globe with even more advanced weapons and greater casualties.

We may add that hunger plus disease in the midst of abundance and technological advancement has also increased several fold, ridiculing the ploughshares dream.

Many times these crises happen in spite of the various deterrent resolutions by the global body. The case with the Middle East conflicts where Israel has been a major sticking point teaches us so.

The UN has now become a door mat for the convenient use of especially the West; to rubber stamp to lend legitimacy to its warmongering whenever it pleases.

The UN seemingly postures to play the role of the conscience of humanity when it resolves against war but is disobeyed, as most of the permanent members are wont to do from time to time when they urgently need to see their wars through. 

So while the members of the UN formally and officially take stands against war and conflict, they run armies behind the scenes to do exactly what they resolve not to do in order to ensure world peace.

Of course, total peace in the world will lead to the collapse of the arms industry and a major source of funding plus power for many developed countries.

Look at the case of competition for resources especially in developed countries like the mineral rich D.R. Congo.

War becomes inevitable for those who want to fish in troubled waters. Endless wars weaken central authority and give rise to regional War Lords.

These ones become the law unto themselves in particular regions. They mine the resources and smuggle them out to global capital interests for almost half the price. 

Many times, the War Lords exchange coltan, tantalum, lithium, gold and diamonds etc. with arms and ammunition plus personnel who come in the form of mercenaries.

The arms industry wins in more ways than one and this is all thanks to the confusing power and complimentary effort of the mercenaries.

They are the bad guys who are needed to keep things going.

The movies should not fool you.

Mercenaries are a necessary evil for most of the developed countries that preach peace and civilization.

Nicholas Sengoba, Plainly speaking, 
Twitter: @nsengoba