You disappoint me, glynch. Not only is this post wildly off topic, but it caused me to post in a thread started by someone I have on ignore, which I normally never do. If you want to post about this subject, I suggest either starting a thread about it, or putting it into one of several threads that would serve your purpose. Thanks. As for the topic, of course "we" are "war profiteers." We have an enormous defense industry, no doubt easily the largest in the world. That industry will sell to whatever country it is allowed to sell to by the US government. It has also been a source of technology for countries that we don't want to have access. Why? Because their cyber defensive measures are uneven and inadequate, in my opinion. We can see plenty of evidence of that failure in the progress the Chinese have made with their defense industry, operated by the state with enormous resources. They've stolen technology from us wholesale, and it is a national scandal, in my opinion. The United States shouldn't be singled out for its sales overseas, however. Numerous countries are up to their necks selling arms, much of it cutting edge. The French, British, Italians, and to a lesser extent, the Germans do, but not only our NATO allies. Neutral countries like Sweden have large defense industries, Sweden's being capable of state of the art weapons technology, that defense industry kept going by sales to the rest of the world. NATO member Norway has an active defense industry, although unlike Sweden's, much of their exported weapons technology goes to NATO countries, and their industry, if highly advanced, is on a much smaller scale than Sweden's. Just some examples to show that while the US is by far the largest exporter of weapons to the world, it is far from the only "culprit." And yes, it has come back to bite us on the arse from time to time. How much is enough? Apparently the appetite is endless.
I think the next step will be Corporations buying War Toys [ships planes etc] then 'renting them' to the government with high insurance on them Imagine the profit in that . . . . Rocket River
might show a 'cut in the military' budget too Rocket River Rent a Billion dollar boat and sign a contract for 20 yrs for 200 Million a year So this year's budget won't show the 2 billion but 200 million . . .. . Tricks of the Political Money Managerment
Hey I agree. Wife was pressuring me to go out somewhere. I meant to post in its own thread. Hope you read the link to see what the Israel of your young adulthood is becoming. Other countries do bad things so why complain about the US only satisfies me at least so far.
Democracy Now is a known anti-semitic website run by "Hamas Amy" Amy Goodman. No wonder it's glynch's favorite source. She hates Israel and other Jews (she has Jewish roots) so much. She also posted an extremely anti-semitic piece about Donald Sterling.
Some very key facts to note: 1) You've understated just how much bigger the US defense industry and government defense spending is compared to the rest of the world. It is bigger than the next dozen or so countries combined, and most of those countries are allies who get much of their weapons from the US anyhow. 2) The industry will not only sell to whichever government it is allowed to sell, but it will draft legislation and fund hand-picked political campaigns on a massive scale in order to influence decisions re weapons sales and production. For example, any rational government would not allow these weapons to fall in the hands of extremists in Syria, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. In practice, however, this was allowed to happen and none of us can say with a straight face that this follows the will of the American citizen. 3) All those countries you mentioned have superior standards for selling weapons - they make it exceedingly difficult for risky governments to receive those weapons when compared to the same process in the US. There are, of course, exceptions such as Germany's relationship with various autocratic extremist regimes, but in general it would be a breath of fresh air to bring US standards up to those of the small players in the market you mentioned. 4) The appetite for production, supply, and demand is endless. Unless Americans want this thing to continue damaging them from the inside, they must put a stop to it. You will fund the growth of the weapons industry, who will eventually turn on you guys to remove you from that decision making equation. This is happening on a small scale already through offensive cyber technology and drones.
I wish they hadn't to be honest, but you are making a fool of yourself if you are calling the UAE government "extremist" in comparison with the other customers of Germany. Take, for example, Saudi Arabia - Germany's biggest customer accounting for about a quarter of German sales. The UAE is the 5th largest customer, way below Saudi. But more importantly, less extremist by Saudi Arabia in every possible way. There's a reason why your meetings with your dad are in Dubai and not Saudi Arabia, ATW. The other customer which is of huge concern is Israel, to whom Germany is selling nuclear submarines in a region otherwise devoid of nuclear weapons. Israel is the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons, and Germany is one of the countries supporting it, and ATW follows this up by whining about Iranian nuclear technology. lol These are just facts. There is nothing to argue. I'm sending you back to ignore list now because this is where you typically break out the racist/xenophobic comments and photos to deviate from the conversation.
I agree that they are less extremist than Saudi Arabia, but they are still a dictatorship, and you work for a dictatorship. You have no right to sit on any high horse - ever. Also, you posted enthusiastically here about a trip to Saudi Arabia and how you wished you could live there. Boom goes the dynamite. Meetings? I spent a few vacations in Dubai. The reason is that it's sunny there. I manage to ignore their human rights violations and block them out, which is probably a mistake by me. Fortunately. Israel is the only democracy in the region, and the only country not dominated by a crazy death cult ideology. Well done Germany. Keep supporting the only free country there.
You realize that the nuclear in nuclear submarine refers to the power plant, and not any type of weapon system, right? It differentiates them from diesel submarines.
