{"id":21214,"date":"2012-09-03T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-03T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=21214"},"modified":"2012-09-01T17:58:40","modified_gmt":"2012-09-01T16:58:40","slug":"u-s-foreign-weapons-sales-triple-setting-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/09\/u-s-foreign-weapons-sales-triple-setting-record\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Foreign Weapons Sales Triple, Setting Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. weapons sales around the world have massively expanded over the past year, setting several records. Agreements for foreign arms sales in 2011 totalled around 66.3 billion dollars \u2013 three times higher than the previous year and constituting an \u201cextraordinary increase\u201d, according to the Congressional Research Service.<\/p>\n

Over that same period, total weapons sales agreements around the world also spiked, nearly doubling to a total of around 85.3 billion dollars, the highest recorded since 2004. These figures were recorded despite the fact that nearly all other weapons suppliers saw declines in orders in 2011.<\/p>\n

For instance, the second largest supplier, Russia \u2013 with whom the United States has vied for the top spot in recent years \u2013 had its sales drop by half in 2011, down to 4.1 billion dollars. Analysts attribute this trend down to the sour global economy.<\/p>\n

This discrepancy was undoubtedly created by the United States\u2019 enormous haul, which made up nearly 78 percent of all sales, the most lucrative of which were in aircraft and missiles. Even the report (a leaked version of which can be found here<\/a>) admits that the \u201cextraordinary total value of U.S. weapons orders\u201d for 2011 \u201cdistorts the current picture of the global arms trade market\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe astounding, record U.S. foreign military sales figures highlight the fact that the global arms trade is booming,\u201d Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association<\/a>, an advocacy group based here, told IPS.<\/p>\n

Washington and the rest of the international community need to do much more \u201cto regulate the flow of weapons to irresponsible regimes with substandard human-rights records and conflict regions like the Middle East and Africa\u201d, Kimball added.<\/p>\n

Developing nations: the world\u2019s newest buyers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Half of this year\u2019s record figures consisted of a single sale of 84 fighter jets and several dozen helicopters to Saudi Arabia, valued at 33.4 billion dollars.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s report, an annual, comprehensive look at the subject by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS), focused particularly on arms transfers between the United States and governments in developing countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeveloping nations continue to be the primary focus of foreign arms sales activity by weapons suppliers,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n

Between 2004 and 2011, agreements with developing countries reportedly comprised almost 69 percent of all such agreements, but even this already high number has increased substantially in more recent years, resting at nearly 84 percent in 2011.<\/p>\n

While Saudi Arabia was the largest purchaser among developing countries, it was followed by India and the United Arab Emirates, potentially highlighting a clear foreign-policy angle to U.S. weapons sales.<\/p>\n

The report noted that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are \u201cpivotal partners in the U.S. effort to contain Iran\u201d, thus suggesting that this year\u2019s record-setting sales could in part be driven by the heated discussion over the potential for war with Iran.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the report stated that \u201cconcerns over the growing strategic threat from Iran\u2026have become the principal basis of [Gulf Cooperation Council] states\u2019 advanced arms purchases\u201d.<\/p>\n

Analysts have pointed out that Saudi Arabia\u2019s purchase constituted almost 70 percent of the Saudi government\u2019s total spending for 2011, a move representing an enormous advance in its military prowess.<\/p>\n

The push for international regulation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new figures came just weeks after international negotiators failed to agree on a framework that would strengthen regulation of the global arms marketplace, estimated at some 60 billion dollars annually. Currently, according to advocate groups, extremely lax international accords on the issue make it is far easier to sell weapons internationally than to sell more highly regulated products such as fruit.<\/p>\n

Throughout the month of July, representatives met at the United Nations headquarters in New York to try to hammer out an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) but ultimately came up short. The ATT would have aimed at regulating a spectrum of war-related aircraft, along with tanks, missiles and large-calibre weaponry, and small arms.<\/p>\n

Early on at those talks, the United States condemned the selection of Iran as the summit\u2019s vice president. Eventually, the United States, pressured in particular by strong opposition from the domestic gun lobby, joined with Russia (as well as India and Indonesia) in objecting to the final draft agreement, thus scuppering progress for the time being.<\/p>\n

The Arms Control Association\u2019s Kimball, who attended the New York negotiations, lay much of the blame for that failure on the U.S. hosts, particularly President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the U.S. delegation had succeeded in inserting all of its preferred formulations in the treaty text and avoided all \u2018red lines\u2019, President Obama should have \u2013 but did not \u2013 provide the leadership necessary to close the deal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, the release of these new figures highlights the need for the U.S. to translate its rhetoric into reality regarding an effective Arms Trade Treaty. In the coming weeks, the United States has a special responsibility to work with, not against, the many other states that support the Arms Trade Treaty, to conclude a sound agreement this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the July ATT talks ended with no agreement, the negotiations did decide to allow member states to engage in further deliberations and, potentially, to bring a draft treaty before the United Nations General Assembly for a vote.<\/p>\n

Unlike the unanimous consensus required during the earlier talks, such a move would only require two-thirds of the body to approve the measure. Diplomats have expressed optimism that such a vote will happen before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 ipsnews.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. weapons sales around the world have massively expanded over the past year, setting several records. Agreements for foreign arms sales in 2011 totalled around 66.3 billion dollars \u2013 three times higher than the previous year and constituting an \u201cextraordinary increase\u201d, according to the Congressional Research Service. Over that same period, total weapons sales agreements around the world also spiked, nearly doubling to a total of around 85.3 billion dollars, the highest recorded since 2004.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-militarism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}