The media declared Joe Biden President-elect, stocks of big arms contractors got a bump and a day later the UK’s military chief warned that World War III is now a ‘risk’.
Yes, 2020 is rolling on.
In a series of interviews on Sunday, Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter warned that the current global landscape could be a trigger for war. He pointed to the economic fallout from COVID-19 and regional conflicts as possible triggers.
“I think the real risk we have with quite a few regional conflicts going on at the moment, is you could see escalation lead to miscalculation,” said Carter.
Carter worries that a miscalculation could turn a conflict into a “full blown war” or worse. When pressed on potential of a third World War, Carter had this to say.
“I’m saying it’s a risk and we need to be conscious of those risks. We have to remember that history might not repeat itself but it has a rhythm and if you look back at the last century, before both world wars, I think it was unarguable that there was escalation which led to the miscalculation which ultimately led to war at a scale we would hopefully never see again.”
Although unrelated to General Carter’s comments, it’s worth noting that the stocks for several arms contractors bounced back with news that a Biden presidency is inching closer to reality.
Lockheed Martin (LMT), General Dynamics (GD), Raytheon Technologies (RTX) and the Carlyle Group (CG), all experienced a dip in share prices in the days leading up to the election, some dropping to 90-day lows. They have all bounced back in the last few days.
President Trump had been a promotor of peace, bringing soldiers back to America and vowing to terminate endless foreign wars.
