America cashes in on wars and weapons exports

Eternal War For Fun and Profit

• The one constant in human history is war. I have no doubt that when an isolated caveman tribe first met a neighboring tribe the result was murder and theft.
• That brings us to the Military-Industrial Complex. We see many wars started for questionable reasons with American made weapons sometimes found on both sides of the same conflict.  
• The "war" against ISIS is a good example. The U.S. and our Islamist allies armed Syrian Islamists with weapons. and then we spent even more money to arm the enemies of the Islamists we just armed.
• We are arming everyone from Islamist head-chopping Saudi Arabia to Communist Vietnam. So do we just arm everyone on the theory that if we don't someone else will?  Everyone is joining the Merchant of Death Industry.  So why not profit?

(CNN)  -  With the end of the U.S. arms embargo, Vietnam will join a long list of international recipients of American armaments.

The U.S. is responsible for nearly 33% of worldwide exports -- by far the top arms exporter on the planet -- but which countries does the U.S. sell the most weapons to?

Saudi Arabia was the top recipient of American-made arms from 2011-2015, followed closely by the United Arab Emirates, according to research compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which has been analyzing international arms transfers since 1968.

The rest of the top 10 included Turkey, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, India, Singapore, Iraq, and Egypt.

Experts believe the Middle East will remain a top destination for weapons for some time -- it currently accounts for about 40% of U.S. arms exports -- especially given the rise of ISIS.

"The dynamic of the [falling] oil prices has been overwhelmed by the deep insecurity these countries are currently feeling and the insecure future they feel they face," Andrew Hunter of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told CNN.

The American exports include everything from small arms to fighter jet aircraft and tanks, to Patriot Missile batteries.

Several Asian countries are also represented high up on the arms sales list, reflecting ongoing tensions with North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs and China's stepped up military activity in the South China Sea.

The tightening of U.S.-Vietnam relations comes as Vietnam has protested China's actions in its nearby waters, including an incident where China stationed an oil rig in disputed waters off of Vietnam's coast in 2014, an event that sparked anti-China riots in Vietnam.

The day after the US. announced it would lift its arms embargo against Vietnam, Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that Vietnam needs the military equipment it will get in order to defend itself.

While most of the top importers use their own money to buy arms from the U.S., the U.S. also provides some countries with grants and loans -- separate from the arms sales -- to purchase defense equipment from American manufacturers, as part of a program called Foreign Military Financing.

The State Department's 2017 budget request includes approximately $5.7 billion for Foreign Military Financing.

In the proposed budget, the top five recipients of American foreign military financing will be Israel ($3.1 billion), Egypt ($1.3 billion), Jordan ($350 million), Pakistan ($265 million), and Iraq ($150 million).

Read More . . . .

General Smedley Butler - Ralph Nader

Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940) was a United States Marine Corps major general. Butler had received 16 medals, five for heroism. He is one of 19 men to receive the Medal of Honor twice.  (More)

At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia.

hh
In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge, which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control.
hh
Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.
George Orwell
1984