I was asked by Osman Faruqi, editor of the University of New South Wales student newspaper Tharunka, to write a column: The role of the US hegemony is over. Washington no longer controls the world by charm and force. It’s a multipolar planet with countless centres of power. Wouldn’t this be something to celebrate? In…
Showing all posts tagged arms industry
Wait, why is Obama really going to Israel again?
Barack Obama is soon to land in Israel and only a fool believes the US President is doing anything other than appeasing the Zionist lobby, occupation backers, the arms industry and other cretins and fools. Gideon Levy in Haaretz: Barack Obama has decided to punish the Israelis: He is talking to them as if they…
How Britain sells weapons to the world and still claims to be responsible nation
Penetrating story by Andy Beckett in the Guardian: In the town centre of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, between McDonald’s and Carphone Warehouse, there is an unusual statue. Four firm-jawed figures in factory clothes stand back-to-back. One wears a flat cap, one wields a sledgehammer, one has a welder’s visor. All of them are in purposeful poses,…
US arms the world but Iran is the threat?
The evidence is clear; Washington fuels more conflicts globally than Tehran could ever hope to do: Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high, driven by major arms sales to Persian Gulf allies concerned about… Iran’s regional ambitions, according to a new study for Congress. Overseas weapons sales by the United…
US backing for Egypt largely about arms trade
How grubby (via the New York Times): An intense debate within the Obama administration over resuming military assistance to… Egypt, which in the end was approved Friday by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, turned in part on a question that had nothing to do with democratic progress in Egypt but rather with American jobs at…
Hello terror, we can make money from you
Post 9/11, countless companies saw an opportunity to make a killing on the desperate desire of both democracies and repressive states to monitor citizens. And when the US government, supposedly the freest nation on Earth, brazenly spied on people in the name of “security”, the path was set. The Wall Street Journal reports: Documents obtained…
Desperate Greece still needed to produce deadly weapons
Sigh (via The Independent): As Greece is forced by European leaders to abandon a referendum to allow the people the chance to vote on its latest bailout conditions, the country is preparing for yet another dose of austerity. The conditions of the next €130bn rescue package will be severe, yet there is an elephant in…
Globalised terror; from Palestine to America
Welcome to a world where the rapacious arms industry has a global reach, and sees no difference between helping an occupying army and thuggish police in a supposed democracy. Max Blumenthal reports: With the rise of the Occupy Wall Street, a new generation of mostly middle class Americans is learning for the first time about…
In Likud heart-land, aka the Washington Post, questioning aid to Israel
Walter Pincus dares to go there: As the country reviews its spending on defense and foreign assistance, it is time to examine the funding the United States provides to Israel. Let me put it another way: Nine days ago, the Israeli cabinet reacted to months of demonstrations against the high cost of living there and…
Washington happy to arm thugs, despots and crooks (yet still talk democracy)
Really: American arms merchants enjoyed a dominant year in 2010 as the United States was responsible for selling more than half of all weapons worldwide. Although U.S. arms exports actually declined last year, compared to 2009, the dramatic drop in global arms deals resulted in American suppliers controlling 53% of the market (up from 35%…