U.S. leads arms sales to developing countries

Source: Int. Herald Tribune

U.S. leads arms sales to developing countries
By Thom Shanker

Published: September 30, 2007

WASHINGTON: The United States maintained its role as the leading supplier of weapons to the developing world in 2006, followed by Russia and Britain, according to a Congressional study. Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia were the top buyers.

The global weapons market is highly competitive, with manufacturing countries seeking both to increase profits and to expand political influence through weapons sales to developing nations that reached nearly $28.8 billion in 2006. That sales total was a slight drop from the 2005 figure of $31.8 billion, a trend explained by the strain of rising fuel prices that prompted many developing states - except those that produce oil - to choose upgrading current arsenals over purchasing new weapons.

The report, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations," was produced by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, an office of the Library of Congress, and presents a number of interesting observations linking arms sales and global politics.

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In 2006, the United States agreed to sell $10.3 billion in weapons to the developing world, or 35.8 percent of these deals worldwide, according to the study. Russia was second with $8.1 billion, or 28.1 percent, and Britain was third with $3.1 billion, or 10.8 percent. Pakistan concluded $5.1 billion in agreements to purchase arms in 2006. That total was followed by India with $3.5 billion in agreements and Saudi Arabia with $3.2 billion in deals.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/30/america/arms.php

I feel so much better about my country now...

Hooray for America. We don't feed the poor. We give them guns so that they can kill each other off. Then we exploit the survivors and take their land and minerals and oil and whatever else they have that we must have.

The drugs aren't good for the buyers or for their neighborhoods, but the drug dealers want to get rich.

Doesn't seem to be a real difference. Your headline made me realize that.

obviously, has the full cooperation of the US government. From the Boston Globe article:

Washington's desire to maintain the status quo was on display at a meeting at the United Nations on Oct. 26, when a UN panel voted to study whether a new treaty might be possible to regulate the sale of conventional arms. The United States was the only country out of 166 to vote no, though China and Russia were among a handful of countries to abstain.

They don't even want to study the possibility of regulating the export of these weapons. Shameful indeed.

While China and Russia abstained, I get the impression,that they could have been brought around with a little bit of moral leadership by the US.

we sell these weapons to these developing, unstable countries as seed for future, more protracted conflicts, where the REAL money can be made. We're just giving them a teaser of what it's like to be a well armed, emerging power. Once we have them hooked on death and destruction, our main export, then we sell them the BIG weapons, the weapons they'll need to take their aggression to the next level.

Just like NYC's post above explains, we're nothing more than drug dealers trying to get these emerging nations hooked on the hard stuff. Pimps, whores and pushers. Those are the true identities of our corporate overlords.