February 9, 2014 Tomgram: Chase Madar, The Folly of Arming Israel
Last year, Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Russia’s pledge to sell advanced antiaircraft weapons to Syria, noting that it would have “a profoundly negative impact on the balance of interests and the stability of the region.” And really, who could argue that pouring more weapons into a heavily-armed corner of the globe, roiled by conflict, convulsed by civil strife and civil war, could do anything but inflame tensions and cost lives?
Yet Kerry’s State Department, in coordination with the Pentagon, has been content to oversee a U.S.-sanctioned flood of arms and military matériel heading into the region at a breakneck pace. In December, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which coordinates sales and transfers of military equipment, announced that it had approved the sale of more than 15,000 Raytheon-produced anti-tank missiles to Saudi Arabia under twoseparate agreements worth a combined $1 billion. Last month, potential deals to sell and lease Apache attack helicopters to theembattled government of Iraq were also made public, in addition to an agreement that would send the country $82 million worth of Hellfire missiles. At about the same time, the DSCA notifiedCongress of a possible $270 million sale of F-16 fighters to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). All of this was on top of a potential$600 million deal to train 6,000-8,000 Libyan military personnel and a prospective $150 million agreement for Marines to mentor members of the UAE’s Presidential Guard Command, both of which were announced in January. And let’s not forget that, last month, Congress also turned on the spigot to allow automatic weapons and anti-tank rockets to flow to rebel fighters in -- wait for it -- Syria. Of course, Muslim nations around the region aren’t alone in receiving U.S. support. The U.S. also plies Israel, the onlynuclear power in the Middle East, with copious amounts of aid. Since World War II, the Jewish state has, in fact, been the largest beneficiary of U.S. foreign assistance, almost all of it military, according to the Congressional Research Service. Yet the topic is barely covered in the U.S. Today, TomDispatch regular Chase Madar provides a remedy for that collective silence, taking us on a deep dive into what that aid means in Israel, Palestine, and Washington. In the process, he explains why you’re unlikely ever to hear John Kerry suggest that sending weapons to Israel might have “a profoundly negative impact on the balance of interests and the stability of the region.” Nick Turse Washington’s Military Aid to Israel |
maandag 10 februari 2014
Tom Engelhardt 52
Abonneren op:
Reacties posten (Atom)
Gaza proves Humanity is far more Backward than we Thought
Gaza proves Humanity is far more Backward than we Thought By Stuart Littlewood - December 23, 2024 1 NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 27...
-
Ziehier Yoeri Albrecht, die door een jonge journalist van het mediakanaal Left Laser betrapt werd tijdens een privé-onderonsje met twee ...
-
NUCLEAR ARMS AND PROLIFERATION ANTI-NUCLEAR ACTIVISM MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX A Women state legislators and advocacy group...
-
https://russiatruth.co/lviv-on-fire-british-canadian-military-instructors-took-off-in-the-air-along-with-training-center/ LVIV on FIRE: Br...
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten