WPF’s podcast Disrupting Peace, explores how peace hasn’t worked and how it still could. Our new season launches on September 8 and you can listen to the trailer now. This season, we’re examining the role of the global arms trade in creating and sustaining today’s rise in global militarism, with disastrous outcomes for average civilians both in war zones and in arms producing countries. It is a timely and urgent discussion: across the world, war is being re-legitimated, defense spending is reaching all-time highs, and profits from arms sales are soaring.
The last 11 years have witnessed a 41% increase in global military expenditure.[i] In 2025, this trend was led by rising defense budgets in theUSA, China, Russia, Germany and India, which accounted for 58% of total global spending.[ii] This assessment does not include the more than 1 trillion-dollar budget for the U.S. Department of Defense/War in FY2027.[iii] (As a point of comparison, the Trump administration requested $37.79 billion for the Department of State for FY27, which is less than FY26[iv]).
All this arms trade spending is contributing to the proliferation of war. As Siri Aas Rustad with the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) reported: 2025 was “the third most violent year in the post–Cold War era…with the highest number of state-based conflicts since 1946,” and conflicts between states doubled over the number in 2024.[v] For most of us, this is horrible news. But for arms-producing companies, it’s all good: “revenues from sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest arms-producing companies rose by 5.9 per cent in 2024, reaching a record $679 billion.”[vi]
To explore the connections between the global arms industry, policymaking and atrocities, we are partnering with our colleagues at Shadow World Investigations, as they are about to publish a new book, Making a Killing: How the West Profits from Slaughter in Gaza and Yemen (due out in November 2026). Authored by Andrew Feinstein, Jack Cinamon, and Ruth Rohde, with Anna Stavrianakis and Paul Holden, it provides the foundation for our podcast season.
I had the chance to read a pre-publication version and immediately wanted to share it with WPF’s audiences. Here is why: first, it explains how our world is shaped by global arms production and trade. Second, it provides a new lens through which to understand two of the most atrocious conflicts of our time: the Saudi-led coalition’s war on Yemen and the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Third, it is full of outrageously well-detailed research. The authors track the pathways, profits, and beneficiaries of today’s global war machine. They also discuss why current weapon controls are not working and how whistleblowers and average people – including dockworkers, community activists, students and beyond — are taking action to disrupt the trade and the violence it enables.
Here is an overview our discussions:
Episode One, “Who makes a killing from war, and how can we stop them?”
With guests Andrew Feinstein, Ruth Rohde and Jack Cinamon, we explore how the arms trade – and corruption – are inextricably linked to political systems in the US and UK. We also debunk common myths about the benefits of military spending and set the stage for the discussions this season.
Episode Two, “Who funds the genocide in Gaza, and who profits?”
Our guest Ahmed Alnaouq, the founder of We Are Not Numbers, host of Palestine Deep Dive and who is originally from Gaza, describes how Israel killed over 20 members of his family when it bombed their home in 2023. He asks, who profited from the bomb that destroyed his family? To help answer this question, researcher Andrew Feinstein, explains who made the bomb, who paid for it, who profited from it, and what accountability might look like.
Episode Three, “Why did Western countries keep fueling atrocities in Yemen?”
We examine why Western countries, including the US and UK, kept sending weapons that fueled conflict in Yemen, despite atrocities and mass starvation. With researcher Ruth Rohde and Yemeni human rights investigator Radhya al-Mutawakel (Mwatana for Human Rights), we ask why nothing- or no one- stopped the flow of weapons. Our conversation focuses on the period of intensive war that started in 2015, when a coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened to reinstate the deposed Yemeni president. We also address US drone strikes that have occurred every year since 2009, against what it claims are terrorist targets, and Mwatana’s careful documentation of civilian deaths.
Episode Four, “How do corporate profits incentivize war?”
We dive into the question of how corporate profits actually incentivize war, with arms trade experts Andrew Feinstein and Janet Abou-Elias (Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and co-founder of Women for Weapons Trade Transparency). Together, we explore how weapons companies profit at the expense of innocent civilians. What is more, the windfall profits are made using public — taxpayer – funds while other pressing issues are swept aside. We also delve into the lack of transparency about the use of AI in war, the deadly consequences, and how everyday people can push for change.
Episode Five, “Who are the suits and soldiers of fortune in the arms trade?”
To help us understand how individuals profit from the business of war, we speak with Jack Cinamon, a researcher and Parliamentary Liaison with Shadow World Investigations, and a Researcher for the Corruption Tracker, and Paul Holden, who is the Director of Investigations at Shadow World Investigations. Together, we discuss the individuals who get rich off war, how they move between positions in government and arms companies – and even foreign governments or militaries – and what it would take to change the incentives.
Episode Six, “So…how do we dismantle the arms trade?”
Our final episode takes on a big challenge: What needs to change for our countries to spend more on peace than on war? Our experts are Anna Stavrianakis, who consults with Shadow World Investigations and is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, and Khem Rogaly, co-founder of Transition Security Project, a new research center that researches the US and UK military-industrial complexes. They describe how activists are already forcing change, what more needs to be done, and how we can all get involved.
Subscribe now to Disrupting Peace so you don’t miss a single episode.
[i] Xiao Liang, Nan Tian, Diego Lopes Da Silva, Lorenzo Scarazzato, Zubaida Karim and Jade Guiberteau Ricard, “Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2025,” SIPRI Fact Sheet (April 2026), available at: https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/2604_milex_2025.pdf, p. 1.
[ii] Ibid, p. 3.
[iii] USASpending.gov, “Department of Defense,” available at: https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-defense?fy=2026.
[iv] Congress.gov, “National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs: FY2027 Budget and Appropriations,” available at: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48956 .
[v] Siri Aas Rustad, “Conflict trends: A global overview, 1946–2025,” PRIO Paper (2026), available at: https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/3596c585-bd85-466c-9f9f-bfaf6fac7b27/Conflict%20trends%20A%20global%20overview%201946-2025%20-%20PRIO%20Paper%202026.pdf?inline=true, p. 7.
[vi] “SIPRI Top 100 arms producers see combined revenues surge as states rush to modernize and expand arsenals,” SIPRI (1 December 2025), available at: ttps://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2025/sipri-top-100-arms-producers-see-combined-revenues-surge-states-rush-modernize-and-expand-arsenals.
