Sky News reported:

The US sold a record $238bn (£187bn) worth of weapons abroad last year. The figure includes $81bn in deals - negotiated directly by the US government - with countries including Poland, Australia and Germany.

'Negotiated directly by the US government' indicates what many have asserted for years - that the US administration is simply a trading and negotiating wing of the US MIC.

A spokesperson told FNN:

We still don't have enough wars to increase demand. We are doing our best to start one with Iran and of course China and North Korea are always in our crosshairs, given that we managed to provoke Russia into the Ukraine conflict.

It could take time. The Ukraine conflict took over a decade to foment from when we began our efforts in 2008.

But we have learned a lot since then and now reckon we can spin-up a war in just a couple of years. Central Asia is looking like a juicy target for de-stabilization, so we may shift our attention there. Watch this space.