Turns Of The Screw
Arms proliferation has various goals. The most obvious is the continued protection and advancement of ones own arms industry. From there motives diversify, including the use of military aid to those in a specific region that will then force ones adversaries in that region to adopt a policy of accelerated defense spending to match the increased military capabilities of those around them. In the case of the recent military aid packages promised to both Israel and numerous, and predominantly Sunni, states by the US - which will, combined, total $50 billion dollars over the next decade - the purpose is to both isolate Iran and force it into a position of having to increase its own acquisition of arms to counterbalance the increase in strength of those in the region.
In this instance, the United States is playing a very dangerous game in that it has chosen to aid predominantly Sunni states, sending a very clear message not only to Iran, but other Shia dominated areas of the Middle East, including, rather ironically, Iraq, whose current government is predominantly Shi’ite (representing 60% of the Iraqi population). The fact that it has also chosen to substantially increase its aid to Israel is also telling for the exact same reason, being that Hezbollah is a Shi’ite organization and that Israel’s position regarding Iran is overtly aggressive. Of course, Hamas is a Sunni organization, which is interesting in that there is no doubt that some of the funds allotted Israel will go towards operations against them – meaning that the Israelis will be employing their aid in operations and safeguards against both Sunni and Shi’ite groups – which, in their case, can be written off under the auspices of ‘counter-terrorism’. The irony is, of course, that if any of the Arab recipients of aid are discovered supporting Sunni organizations, such as Hamas, there will surely be considerable outrage. But even so, it should not be lost on anyone that the possibility of even a small portion of that aid reaching such groups wasn’t overlooked by those supplying it. In truth, if anything, it ensures that tensions remain at a level that will benefit US defense contractors, being that even Israel, after converting 26.3% of the aid into shekels and using that money to support Israeli based defense companies, must use the remainder of the aid to purchase arms from US manufacturers.
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August 18th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
First off let me say thank you for supplying me with the news that is not easily found in my own country (America). Yet which could and most likely will deeply affect the world that we all live in.
Second, one has to wonder about the near future in cases such as this. Will these weapons turn against us much as our aid to both the Muhjadeen of Afghanistan and our aid to Suddam himself?
I wonder when we as a nation will learn that supplying arms and technologies of destruction, will, at some point come back to haunt us no matter how much money or political leverage we earn in the short term.
August 18th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
I wonder when we as a nation will learn that supplying arms and technologies of destruction, will, at some point come back to haunt us no matter how much money or political leverage we earn in the short term.[/quote]
Don’t you think we as a nation already know this? The government knows exactly what they’re doing….and they don’t care.
August 19th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Wait, what the fuck? That Haaretz article you linked to has “no strings attached” in it’s title, and then in the body says that three quarters of the money has to be paid into the grubby little hands of American arms peddlers. How is that not a gigantic “string”, if not a fucking bungee cord? For shame, Haaretz (they’re normally a pretty decent paper, no?).
August 19th, 2007 at 5:39 am
texas kill ‘em. raising the blinds.
August 19th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Maybe they (Haaretz) were being sarcastic?
August 19th, 2007 at 8:50 am
It strikes me as terribly amusing that the Republican Party hates taxes and big government, however all talk of that ceases when the military budget is brought up. Increases in spending on the Pentagon and military over the last 6 years will necessitate higher taxes on those who are not yet alive (and do not contribute to the GOP), and force a reduction on all other areas of government spending. By adding a portion of arms spending added to the cost of oil, to which there is a strong correlation, it would give the average American a clearer idea of how much a gallon of gas truly costs. Factor in the cost per gallon of environmental damage, and it gets even better (or worse, I suppose). In my opinion, Peak Oil cannot come fast enough….
While I enjoyed reading of the $1000 per load of laundry, courtesy of some company called Haliburton, the fact that someone signed off on the purchase order below definitely takes the cake:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2151285,00.html
Sure, the perpetrator will go to jail maybe, but what about those in charge of a system which is susceptible to such obvious fraud? Good thing the government is not run by the Democrats, and wasting its spending on education, poverty reduction or health care…..
August 20th, 2007 at 11:49 am
The game they’re playing is a very volatile mixing of business and politics. By dealing the way they are, the US is ensuring tensions remain high. But also note, they’re undermining their own strategy as well by dealing both to sunni powers and Israel.
No doubt a lot of money will be made as tensions continue to rise, but when the bubble finally bursts, and the US will no longer be able to play both sides, it’ll be up to them to clean up the ensuing mess.
Of course, the fact that lives will be lost thanks to these arms deals is a fact that is conveniently overlooked. I suppose there is really no ethics for companies and regimes which fund themselves through controlled murder.