What do you think about arms sales to Saudi Arabia?
By John Welford
@indexer (4852)
Leicester, England
October 2, 2018 4:56am CST
It has been revealed that the German government has recently doubled the volume and value of its arms sales to Saudi Arabia, with more than 250 million euros worth being exported since March this year, twice the amount for the previous six months.
Germany is certainly not alone in its support for the Saudi regime in this way. The UK government has long been a major supplier of arms to a country that has very deep pockets but does not itself manufacture weapons of war.
It is well known that the Saudis have everything they need to secure their defence requirements, so these extra arms have no purpose other than to allow them to wage war on others. In particular, it has long supported the government of Yemen against a rebellion that is sponsored by Iran. This war has involved the bombing of civilian areas - using planes and bombs imported from Europe - with the result that at least 10,000 civilians have been killed and more than 3 million people made homeless.
The question is surely a moral one. Which should take priority - the lives of innocent Yemenis or the livelihoods of European workers in the arms industry?
It seems that money rules everything in international trade. Will attitudes ever change? It seems unlikely.
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5 responses
@josie_ (9763)
• Philippines
2 Oct 18
US president Eisenhower warned about the rise of the military-industrial complex where private commercial companies build armaments and war machine not for defense purpose but solely for profit. The cold war spark the arms race between the two superpowers. Fortunately for world peace the USSR disintegrated and the nuclear threat abated. However, despots and tyrants still exists. The need to secure their regimes and hold onto power continue to keep the sales of weaponry a lucrative business.
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