They're copying us!

China sends arms and militia to Zimbabwe.

But the ship has been blocked from unloading the weapons: (my bold)

The Chinese freighter arrived in South Africa last week, and human rights groups and others said they feared the mortar grenades and bullets onboard could be used by President Robert Mugabe's regime to clamp down on its opposition.

A South African group persuaded a judge to bar the weapons from transiting through the country to landlocked Zimbabwe. and the An Yue Jiang then sailed away from South Africa. Private groups and government officials in Mozambique, Angola and Namibia also objected to the weapons, though Namibia said the ship could refuel there if necessary.

[snip]

In Washington, the State Department said it was pleased by Tuesday's news from China.

"Right now clearly is not the time that we would want to see anyone putting additional weapons or additional material into this system when the situation is so unsettled and when we have seen real and visible instances of abuses committed by the security forces," deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

Zimbabwe's government has refused to publish the results of the presidential election held more than three weeks ago, and the opposition says that is part of a ploy to steal the vote. There are reports of increasing violence against the opposition.

China is one of Zimbabwe's main trade partners and allies, and there is no international arms embargo against Zimbabwe. But China's relationship with Mugabe is often pointed to as an example of its willingness to deal with authoritarian regimes in order to secure commodities and markets in Africa.

Although China's global weapons exports are considered tiny in dollar terms, especially compared to the United States, Beijing is a principle exporter of cheap, simple small arms blamed for fueling violence in Sudan and other parts of Africa.

How dare China horn in on our weapons deals!

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.

I mean... we have the right and the need to arm people all over the world with the latest weapons! We are the self-declared policeman of the world and we must go fight and conquer those who ... we .. have armed... ah...

Pay no attention to that last statement, tinpot dictators! Especially if you have oil!

How to avoid the finger of blame... point at somebody else.

Italians discover huge arms deal headed for Iraq:

Their discovery led anti-Mafia investigators down a monthslong trail of telephone and e-mail intercepts, into the midst of a huge black-market transaction, as Iraqi and Italian partners haggled over shipping more than 100,000 Russian-made automatic weapons into the bloodbath of Iraq.

As the secretive, $40 million deal neared completion, Italian authorities moved in, making arrests and breaking it up. But key questions remain unanswered.

For one thing, The Associated Press has learned that Iraqi government officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of the U.S. Baghdad command -- a departure from the usual pattern of U.S.-overseen arms purchases.

Why these officials resorted to "black" channels and where the weapons were headed is unclear.

The purchase would merely have been the most spectacular example of how Iraq has become a magnet for arms traffickers and a place of vanishing weapons stockpiles and uncontrolled gun markets since the 2003 U.S. invasion and the onset of civil war.

The private contractors are out of control:

There are now nearly as many private contractors in Iraq as there are U.S. soldiers — and a large percentage of them are private security guards equipped with automatic weapons, body armor, helicopters and bullet-proof trucks.

They operate with little or no supervision, accountable only to the firms employing them. And as the country has plummeted toward anarchy and civil war, this private army has been accused of indiscriminately firing at American and Iraqi troops, and of shooting to death an unknown number of Iraqi citizens who got too close to their heavily armed convoys.

Not one has faced charges or prosecution.

There is great confusion among legal experts and military officials about what laws — if any — apply to Americans in this force of at least 48,000.

And the Pentagon can't keep track of our own weapons:

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of the weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting US forces in Iraq.

The report from the Government Accountability Office indicates that US military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops. The highest previous estimate of unaccounted-for weapons was 14,000, in a report issued last year by the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

And weaponry from the Iraq/Iran war is still available... weaponry that we probably sold Saddam:

Old Iran-Iraq war era land mines were used in about 15 percent of the roadside bombs that exploded or were detected in northern Iraq during January, according to Navy Lt. Sarah Wilson, an explosives officer based in Tikrit.

Many of them were believed to have come from this border area.

"All of that unexploded ordnance, minefields and shrapnel _ it's still out there," said Lt. Col. Ron Ward, 49, who helps train Iraqi guards.

So how can Bush say this with a straight face?

U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday he believes Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will explain during his visit to Iran that delivering weapons to the hands of Iraqi militants is a destabilizing measure, with consequences.

Bush held a news conference at the White House before taking a long weekend at his parents' home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

"His message, I'm confident, will be to stabilize, don't destabilize," said Bush.

"He knows that weapons being smuggled into Iraq from Iran and placed into the hands of extremists, over which his government has no control, all aimed at killing innocent life, is a destabilizing factor."

Have you checked out the foreign fighters in Iraq, Georgie? Most of them are from your pal's country, Saudi Arabia. Your pals are killing our soldiers, George. What are you going to do about it?

Right. Blame Iran.

Why are we arming Saudis?

The rest of the world's mouths are agape at this:

Saudi Arabia? Isn't that the country:
- from which came 15 of the 19 men responsible for the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001?
- that opposed the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and whose king, this March, called the invasion an "illegal occupation"?
- that told the United States to remove its troops and find some other country for the US Central Command's (CENTCOM) forward command post?
- whose border is so poorly monitored that 75% of all foreign fighters crossing into Iraq do so from Saudi territory, far more than from Syria?
- whose autocratic government either will not or cannot prevent its youth from going to Iraq - an estimated 40% of all foreigners fighting US troops and Iraqi government forces are Saudi nationals - where they become bomb makers, snipers, and suicide bombers?
- that nearly 60 years after the creation of the modern State of Israel still refuses to extend diplomatic recognition to that country?

No matter how deft the White House "spin", there will be considerable congressional opposition to the sale. Previous Congresses have opposed sales of weapons to the Saudis on the grounds that the kingdom has never signed a peace agreement with Israel. This time, the opposition is fueled by the lack of sustained support from Riyadh for US aims in Iraq and in the "global war on terrorism".

Cost of oil
There is also the sense among some members of Congress that the Saudis have not acted to control the soaring costs of energy. In the run-up to the 2004 US elections, the Saudis allegedly promised they would increase production if necessary to preclude a price spike that might hurt the re-election prospects of the George W Bush-Dick Cheney ticket.

Once the US election was concluded, however, the Saudis did little if anything to curb higher prices - first to $40 and then to $50 per barrel - pleading market forces beyond their control. Coincidentally with the announcement of the proposed arms sale, the price of a barrel of oil hit $78. Yet there was only silence from the Saudis.

From the perspective of the hardliners in Bush's White House, the Saudis were undercutting every US goal in the Middle East, particularly the current president's vision of a democratic Iraq as the seedbed for transforming autocratic regimes to democracies.
[snip]

Washington has been insisting that there is no military solution to the region's trauma. Yet it is proposing not only $20 billion in weapons to the Saudis but another $13 billion to Egypt and $30 billion to Israel - a total of $63 billion for weapons in a part of the world already awash in modern arms. And this total apparently doesn't include $40 million in guns, bullets, rockets, missiles, small-arms ammunition, night-vision goggles, and spare parts for the Lebanese Army this year and another $280 million for 2008. Nor does it include the $3 billion Iraq is spending on weapons and ammunition - all of which are contributing to the current mayhem in these two countries.

Nonetheless, since Israel has already said it will not oppose the sale, it is unlikely that Congress will vote to block it or even to amend it. As for the Pentagon, it hopes to save money through economy of scale for items produced for either the Saudis or Israelis. And of course US companies that build weapons and munitions are pleased at the prospect of new contracts and new profits.

The irony in this whole affair is that Bush started the Iraq war over weapons that never existed and that have not been used since 1945. Now his administration seems to think the way to end the war is to make sure that there are more weapons - ones that kill thousands every day. Go figure!

Can somebody explain this again? We are arming the Saudis who are sending their radicalized Sunni youth to fight against the U.S. supported Shiite government in Iraq; who are afraid of the Shiite power in Iran; who hate Israel; and use their grip on oil prices to control U.S. elections. We are arming Saudis who think the next war will involve them as Iraq is carved up between Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia?

We are fighting Bush's Eternal War on Terror with weaponry supplied by the Bush administration against terrorists whipped to a frenzy by Bush foreign policies.

Looked into his soul, huh?

Didja see this coming?

London, United Kingdom (AHN) - Iran and Russia may sign a $1 billion arms deal that will deliver warplanes and aerial refueling tankers to the Islamic state, the London-based IranMania website reported on Tuesday.

IranMania said the deal will supply Iran with 250 Su-30 fighters, advanced and versatile two-seater warplanes that have a maximum flying range of 3,000 kilometers. The deal will also include the supply of aerial refueling tankers that will increase the flight range of Su-30 to 8,000 kilometers.

The aircrafts, which are to be delivered at the end of the year, will reportedly make Iran's air force at par with Israel's.

Jes' think of all the money we could make, Pooty Poot, if'n you sell shit to Iran and we sell shit to Israel and Saudi Arabia.... an' then we just stand back and watch'em attack each other...

Update: The Bush administration said on Monday it was selling arms to Saudi Arabia, so this must be a reaction to that. The Germans are not amused:

On Monday, the Bush administration officially announced its plan to provide advanced weapons worth billions to friendly states in the Persian Gulf in order to curb growing Iranian influence in the region.

Washington plans to sell $20 billion worth of satellite-guided bombs, and fighter and naval upgrades to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates over the next 10 years. A further $13 billion is pledged to Egypt, and Israel will remain, with $30 billion in arms aid, the greatest recipient in the Middle East of American largesse.

The German government's coordinator for transatlantic relations voiced his concerns regarding the plan in a radio interview on Tuesday.

"I don't see the point of arming the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia with more weapons," said Karsten Voigt. "The region is not suffering from a lack of weapons, but from a lack of stability."

Prince Bandar and the arms dealer

Via Bryan at Why Now?, BBC reports:

A Saudi prince who negotiated a £40bn arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia received secret payments for over a decade, a BBC probe has found.

The UK's biggest arms dealer, BAE Systems, paid hundreds of millions of pounds to the ex-Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

The payments were made with the full knowledge of the Ministry of Defence.

Prince Bandar "categorically" denied receiving any improper payments and BAE said it acted lawfully at all times.

The MoD said information about the Al Yamamah deal was confidential.

Sir Raymond Lygo, a former chief executive of BAE, told the BBC's World Business Report that there had been "nothing untoward" about the arms deal.

"You smell like money."
"Thanks!"

War is good business

If not our own, then somebody else's. Robert Silvey of Rubicon:

Frida Berrigan of the World Policy Institute has details at TomDispatch. She points out that, among all nations on this planet, we greedy, militaristic Americans are:

• first in oil consumption
• first in carbon dioxide emissions
• first in external debt
• first in military expenditures
• first in weapons sales
• not first in automobiles
• not even first in bulk goods

But then she comes back to our real economic strength—weapons sales—and breaks it down. We are:

• first in sales of surface-to-air missiles
• first in sales of military ships
• first in military training
• first in private military personnel

That's what keeps the economy humming, all those profits in wars, our own and other countries'. When the US is not starting a war or exacerbating an existing war, we're making it easy for others to start their own.

Since we always invade countries that we sell arms to...

Does this mean we will be invading Ethiopia next because of their WMDs?:

WASHINGTON, April 7 — Three months after the United States successfully pressed the United Nations to impose strict sanctions on North Korea because of the country’s nuclear test, Bush administration officials allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from the North, in what appears to be a violation of the restrictions, according to senior American officials.

The United States allowed the arms delivery to go through in January in part because Ethiopia was in the midst of a military offensive against Islamic militias inside Somalia, a campaign that aided the American policy of combating religious extremists in the Horn of Africa.

American officials said that they were still encouraging Ethiopia to wean itself from its longstanding reliance on North Korea for cheap Soviet-era military equipment to supply its armed forces and that Ethiopian officials appeared receptive. But the arms deal is an example of the compromises that result from the clash of two foreign policy absolutes: the Bush administration’s commitment to fighting Islamic radicalism and its effort to starve the North Korean government of money it could use to build up its nuclear weapons program.

I'm warning all tinpot dictators again. If we sell you weapons, be prepared to be invaded later. Have oil? Be prepared to be invaded sooner. .....

Wait a minute. Does Ethiopia have oil?

Oh my goodness, yes it does. And the Chinese are interested.

Israeli sells arms to Iraqi fighters

Kinda like us selling military equipment to Iran? Or something weirder? (my bold)

Ma'ariv Daily has reported that an Israeli retired officer sells weapons to terrorist groups in Iraq.

Shmoel Avivi, an Israeli retired officer, had established a firm in Iraq 2 years ago, which secretly sold arms to terrorist groups in Iraq, Ma'ariv reported.

Amnesty International reported that Avivi was one of the biggest weapon dealers in the Middle East.

Iraqi sources earlier announced that terrorist attacks in Iraq were backed by the intelligent agencies of CIA and Mossad and the secret agents of Iraqi former regime.

Earlier, Iraqi parliament security commission chairman Hadi Ameri had accused the occupying soldiers of secretly directing the terrorist attacks and forming terror squads in Iraq.