Every proxy war is an arena to promote new arms. We saw that after the Gulf War with the Middle Eastern countries purchasing SCUD and Patriot missiles. The Vietnam War in itself was an arena to publicise all the effectiveness of American weapons. And the Timorese War, which happened after the Vietnam War was ended, carried the left-overs of the Vietnam War. So you see every war is a sales promotion of the newest weapons, and that's why to think that Western societies are only welfare states is a myth.
Western societies are welfare states because they are also warfaring states.
Western societies have developed a more advanced level of militarism. Western societies have evolved more industrialised militarism, which is different from the repressive militarism of Third World countries like Indonesia. But they are actually two sides of the same coin. Australia's welfare is the Bougainvillean people's misery. Australian welfare is the East Timorese misery.