In a discussion about removing civil liberties to combat terrorism, I liked this comment:

If we did not openly and actively sponsor fanatics waging civil wars on the Russian periphery and in the Middle East for the last 20 years the AK47s (actually, most of them are AK72 nowadays) would not have been there to be sold in the first place.

.. and nobody would have made a bean off arms deals.

Wars are simply there to convert tax money into private income without too many questions asked – profit is the cause of war. The rest is IMHO just camouflage and fluff to hide the bigger picture.