Everyone Gets A Gun
You simply can’t cut an arms deal with certain nations in one of the world’s most conflict ridden regions without cutting another to counterbalance it. So that is precisely what the United States is in the midst of doing.
The US is currently preparing an arms deal with the Saudis and other Gulf states worth $20 billion dollars over the next decade. But as expected, the Israelis aren’t entirely too happy about the prospect of it, so the United States plans to extend to them a package that will total $30 billion dollars over the next decade.
As it stands now, the United States gives Israel some $2.4 billion dollars in military aid a year, thus the new deal would constitute a 25% increase.
“The BBC’s Bethany Bell in Jerusalem says the package is seen as an attempt to allay Israeli concerns over the planned arms deal with Saudi Arabia, reportedly worth $20bn (£9.8bn) over the next decade.
Defence officials quoted by US media said the sales would include advanced weaponry, missile guidance systems, upgraded fighter jets and naval ships.
Mr Olmert said the increased support was a sign of US commitment to maintain Israel’s military “advantage over the Arab states”.”
In total, the United States is committing $50 billion dollars over the next decade to the military capabilities of foreign countries that will, in no small way, ensure that a heightened state of arms proliferation remains prevalent in a region of the world which should, in truth, be the focus of moderation, not proliferation.
Of course, this is all fantastic news for US military contractors, their employees, and those innumerable Congressional districts that rely on the defense sector.
Want to bookmark or share this entry?
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 11:17 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
July 29th, 2007 at 11:41 am
shouldn’t that last figure be 50 billion, not 50 million?
July 29th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Is this not the same country which supplied the majority of 9/11 terrorists? (that being Saudi Arabia)
I cannot come to any rational conclusion based on the ‘war on terror’ dogma, that we are force fed to believe, how a country like this should qualify for such an arms deal. Yet at the same time the US disapproves of China and Russia of providing arms to Iran…………what is the difference???
July 29th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
The United States of Armsdealers.
July 29th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
There is no “rational conclusion” to come to - none of this is rational. It never has been and it never will be. No matter how many news items are put out here in the US, telling our nation how completely fucked, in all possible ways, we are - the majority of us in the US will just shake our pretty little heads in disbelief about those ‘pesky politicians’, sit back in our comfy recliners, flip on our 900 channel TVs, and fall asleep there dreaming of little, fluffy clouds.
@ stretch: the difference is that China & Russia aren’t the US. We don’t play well with others these days.
July 29th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Why does Israel have to have a military advantage over the Arab states?
Aren’t there other means of ensuring that those hostile to Israel don’t make a move against them?
I’ve never understood the whole picture there…
July 29th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
What is most disturbing is the inability of the general public to see how this connects to the shooting death of eleven-year-old Ephraim Brown a week ago in Toronto, lest we forget the remainder of the victims of inner city violence and full-scale war.
July 29th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Go watch the film “God of War” theres a lot of scart truths told in that movie. However, playing devil’s advocate here, if there is a 50 bilion dollar business there for the exploiting, why not take advantage of it. I mean, odds are these countries are going to find SOMEONE to sell them arms…
July 29th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Depressing, especially after i just finished watching “Lord of War” with Nicholas Cage (an anti-uplifing film about international arms dealing)
July 30th, 2007 at 7:04 am
got yourself a gun
July 30th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Sad, frustrating yet economically responsible.
How could you possibly convince everyone that manufacturing, selling and purchasing farm implements would be more constructive and equally lucrative? Would it be?
And what would those people who are aggressive and angry and need an outlet for their murderous rage? How will their needs be met?
The States has such a strong hold on the “right to bear arms” lifestyle, I’m not sure they even have a notion that they are feeding the issue on more than just the commercial level. How can you change the minds of an entire nation who are convinced they are the greatest and have the very best way of life that there are places not so far away where everyone does not carry a sidearm or want to have one for protection.
July 30th, 2007 at 7:55 am
$50 billion more in weapons flowing into the middle east. Sounds like the perfect way to create peace and stop the blood shed. Very Depressing
July 30th, 2007 at 9:25 am
[quote post="1343"]Defence officials quoted by US media said the sales would include advanced weaponry, missile guidance systems, upgraded fighter jets and naval ships.[/quote]
I am sure some of the missile guidance systems will provide the ability for missiles to reach Eastern Europe, just to help solidify the US’s argument that they need missile defense posts in Poland and Germany.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:13 am
Why does Israel need to have a military advantage? Because we’re at an extreme disadvantge in the location, size, and rabid desire to kill everyone around us departments. And the US keeps supplying weapons to everyone for some reason, but if you cut off American aid to the entire segment of potentially/warring Middle East, there’d be a lot of angry Arab states complaning about inhuman cruelty and whatnot. If the US pulled out of every country in the Middle East, aid, weapons, troops, etc…we’d probably be the among slowest to complain.
We just want to live in peace. They just want us all to die. And the US…just wants money now, the entire planet later.