The Price of Other People's Wars Wars and Wallets
Something I’ve noticed in German media – public broadcasting included, though I’ll admit this is a subjective read and I’m not immune to my own bias: when a new war breaks out, the dominant angle isn’t human lives, it’s economic fallout. Inflation. Growth forecasts. Stock exchange jitters. Tourist bookings. The wars in Somalia, Myanmar, Sudan, Yemen? Sure, Western interests track those too – quietly, when there are resources or proxy stakes involved. But they rarely make the front page. Economically inconvenient, strategically distant, largely invisible.
I know it’s not only this. Humanitarian reporting exists. But the priority ordering – what leads, what frames the story – tells you something. My read: we’re living through a phase of capitalism so advanced in its abstraction that human suffering has become a secondary variable in a model. A tragedy, not a catastrophe. A data point, not a rupture.
Not end times (yet). Just… numbers all the way down 😐