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02 January 2011 By Rick Rozoff In its Yearbook 2010, the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) documents that the
United States accounts for 43 percent of world
military spending and 30 percent of global arms
exports, making it preeminent in both categories. Aggregate spending on American defense and on wars
abroad is substantially larger than the official
Pentagon budget and in fact may account for half of
international military expenditures. [1] In his Nobel Peace Prize address in December of
2009, President Barack Obama unabashedly celebrated
his nation as the world's sole military superpower
[2], and his actions in the interim have been
dedicated to confirming, prolonging and magnifying
that status. Last July it was reported that although the U.S.
"is currently the world biggest weapons supplier —
holding 30 per cent of the market…the Obama
administration has begun modifying export control
regulations in hopes of enlarging the U.S. market
share, according to U.S. officials." [3] Obama first advocated the streamlining of arms
sales controls in August of 2009 and reiterated the
demand in his State of the Union address on January 27
"as an element toward doubling exports by 2015." The White House plan entails expediting overseas
weapons transfers by establishing a single agency to
oversee proposed exports. Among what were identified as the "possible
beneficiaries" of relaxed weapons export requirements
is India, described at the time as "seeking 126
fighter-jets worth over $10 billion, 10 large
transport aircraft worth $6 billion, and other
multi-billion dollar defense sales…." [4] Early this November the American president visited
India and secured $10 billion in business
transactions, an estimated half of which are in the
military sphere [5], a deal that "would make the US
replace Russia as India's biggest arms supplier" and
"help India curb China's rise." [6] The contracts include one for India's $5 billion
purchase of ten Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military
transport aircraft, "the sixth biggest arms deal in
U.S. history" according to William Hartung, director
of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America
Foundation. [7] Regarding overall global arms exports, SIPRI's
calculations from earlier this year confirm that the
average annual level grew by 22 percent from 2000-2004
to 2005-2009. Russia accounted for 23 percent of sales last year,
followed by the U.S.'s North Atlantic Treaty
Organization allies Germany [8], France, Britain and
Spain. The first five nations collectively represented
76 percent of all weapons exports in the world over
the period of 2005-2009. The largest purchasers of weapons were, in
descending order, in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe
and the Middle East. Again according to SIPRI's estimates, worldwide
military spending in 2009 was $1,531 trillion, a six
percent increase in real terms since the year before
and a 49 percent rise over that in 2000. The U.S. and
its NATO allies accounted for 70 percent of last
year's figure. [9] Last week the U.S. Congress approved a $725 billion
Defense Department authorization for 2011, in absolute
dollars the largest military budget in human history
and in constant dollars the largest Pentagon
allocation since the Second World War. American weapons deals abroad are of course a
source of lucrative contracts for domestic arms
manufacturers, but serve a more important function:
The integration of scores of nations around the world
into Washington's military network. A recent analysis in China's Global Times detailed
how the U.S. employs the sale and provision of
military hardware – from firearms to armored combat
vehicles, warships to warplanes and other military
aircraft, missiles (including interceptors) to entire
weapons systems – to advance its global geostrategic
objectives: "The Cold War political map is being redrawn. Arms
sales are helping the US extend its influence in the
Asia-Pacific region and pave the way for a new global
hegemony." "After the Cold War, apart from a few rogue states,
the US targeted almost every country in the world for
arms sales and is also keen to sell military
technology to Russia. High-tech weapons – including
missile defense systems – are the main items on the
list of US arms sales." "The US is unabashed about using high-tech weapons
to expand its sphere of influence. In Europe, the US
has continued to entice Eastern European countries
into NATO and to squeeze Russia's traditional sphere
of influence." [10] With the absorption of twelve Eastern European
nations into NATO from 1999-2009, Russia in fact has
been driven out of the arms markets of its former
Warsaw Pact allies. The development of NATO
partnerships with Europe's formerly neutral countries
has also opened Finland and Sweden to the Pentagon and
American weapons concerns. [11] In 2003 Washington signed a $3.6 billion contract
with Poland for 48 F-16 jet fighters which were
delivered between 2006 and 2008. The sale was the
largest military deal in Poland's history. In 2006 the
U.S. struck an agreement to provide Poland with five
C-130 Hercules military transport planes. Earlier this month a senior Polish government
official disclosed that U.S. F-16s and Hercules C-130s
(with their American crews) would be deployed to his
country in addition to those purchased from the U.S. Last year Romania's defense minister announced
plans to acquire 48-54 jet fighters to replace
Russian-designed MiG 21 Lancers currently in use "to
make the transition to fifth generation equipment" –
the Lockheed Martin-produced F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter. "We are currently waiting for the U.S. side to send
information on the likely acquisition of several F-16
aircraft," Mihai Stanisoara stated. [12] After the U.S. exported its 2008 financial crisis
to Europe, Romania has scaled back on its plans and is
discussing the purchase of 24 used F-16s. This June Bulgarian Defense Minister Anyu Angelov
met with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the
Pentagon and their discussions included "the
possibility of Bulgaria buying multi-purpose F-16
fighter jets from the US." [13] The Bulgarian news media stated that a preferential
arrangement for obtaining American multirole warplanes
would be part of a quid pro quo to allow U.S.
interceptor missile facilities to be based in
Bulgaria. Last year Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to
deliver 30 new F-16 combat jets to Turkey. The Global Times article quoted from earlier
mentioned the Asia-Pacific area, where this year began
with the U.S. antagonizing China by confirming it
would complete a $6.4 billion weapons deal with
Taiwan, supplying the latter with 200 Patriot
anti-ballistic missiles. [14] This month Japan released its new National Defense
Program Guidelines which detail plans to expand the
deployment of U.S.-made Patriot Advanced Capability-3
and ship-based Standard Missile-3 interceptors. [15] South Korea is also being integrated into the
Asia-Pacific and broader international American
missile shield system along with Australia and in the
not too distant future India. The Global Times feature also mentioned: "The US has sold Patriot missile systems to Japan,
South Korea, India, Saudi Arabia, Poland and China's
Taiwan island. "Regionally, Patriots are present in Northeast
Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
These countries and regions cannot catch up with US
military technology and inevitably have to rely on the
US for missile defense. "The US has been accused of trying to redraw the
political map by using high-tech weapons to make
purchasing countries more dependent on the US for
their national defense." [16] There have been reports that nations like Saudi
Arabia and even Japan are considering the purchase of
longer-range U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense
anti-ballistic missiles. Citing the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute, news sources in the Persian Gulf recently
revealed that the U.S. emerged as the largest supplier
of weapons to the region over the preceding five
years. The U.S. "accounted for 54 percent of the Gulf
region's total volume of imports, followed by France,
which accounted for 21 percent." [17] The Global Times analysis added: "In the Middle East, the US uses arms as a means to
influence regional security trends. The Middle East
has always been a major US arms export zone. This year
the US and Saudi Arabia signed arms deals worth up to
$60 billion, said to be the largest US arms contract
in history. "The US is also mulling sales of advanced weapons
and equipment to Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab
Emirates and other Gulf countries." On October 21 Washington announced a $60 billion
arms deal with Saudi Arabia for advanced jet fighters,
helicopters, missiles and other weaponry and
equipment. It includes the sale of 84 new F-15 jet
fighters and the upgrading of 70 more as well as 178
military helicopters and advanced missiles, bombs,
radar and other equipment. Earlier in the year reports surfaced of American
plans to sell Patriot and other interceptor missiles
to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This September the Financial Times reported that
planned American arms sales to the Persian Gulf will
amount to $123 billion: A $67.8 billion package for
Saudi Arabia, $35.6 billion for the United Arab
Emirates, $12.3 billion for Oman and $7.1 billion for
Kuwait. A major expansion of U.S. arms sales to the nations
of Southeast Asia will follow suit and just as NATO
expansion has opened almost all of Europe to American
weapons manufacturers, so the new U.S. Africa Command
will allow the Pentagon and affiliated arms merchants
to further penetrate an entire continent. Subjugated and occupied lands like Iraq and
Afghanistan are captive markets for U.S. arms firms. SIPRI states that in boosting arms exports from
$6,795 billion in 2008 to $6,795 billion in 2009 and
in so doing securing 30 percent of the world market,
the U.S. sold weapons to 70 nations and NATO, with the
Asia-Pacific region accounting for 39 percent of the
sales, the Middle East for 36 percent and Europe for
18 percent. Revealingly, "Combat aircraft and
associated weapons and components accounted for 48 per
cent of the volume of US deliveries of major
conventional weapons during this period." [18] An integral aspect of supplying weapons to over a
third of the world's nations is to ensure military
interoperability for joint actions, including war, and
to bring the receiving countries more firmly and
inextricably into Washington's political orbit. Providing arms is intimately related to and is
often a precondition for developing closer diplomatic,
financial, trade and comprehensive military ties with
other nations. No country has more influence over
international lending agencies than the U.S. and
weapons aren't supplied free of charge. Over the past decade the Pentagon has constructed
and gained access to new military bases, camps,
airfields, training centers and surveillance and
missile shield installations in at least thirty
nations, bilaterally and through NATO: Afghanistan,
Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Colombia, Djibouti,
Estonia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya,
Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mali,
Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Oman, Qatar,
Romania, Seychelles, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda,
the United Arab Emirates and Zambia among them. Weapons sales necessarily entail training and
instruction, joint military exercises, parts
replacement, maintenance and repairs, and upgrading
and other modifications. In short, an integral and
long-term partnership between the supplier and the
purchaser. A mechanism for eliminating competitors in
Washington's drive for worldwide military and
political dominance. 1) Pentagon's Christmas Present: Largest
Military Budget Since World War II http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../pentagons-christmas-present-largest-military-budget-since-world-war-ii 2) Obama Doctrine: Eternal War For Imperfect
Mankind http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../obama-doctrine-eternal-war-for-imperfect-mankind 3) McClatchy Newspapers, July 29, 2010 http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../obama-gates-and-clinton-in-asia-u-s-expands-military-build-up-in-the-east 6) Global Times, July 13, 2010 http://world.globaltimes.cn/asia-pacific/2010-07/550830.html 7) Anika Anand, The Real Reason For Obama's Trip
To India: The Sixth http://www.businessinsider.com/top-10-us-arms-deals-in-history-2010-11 8) Germany: World Arms Merchant In First Post-WW
II Combat http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../206 9) Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute Yearbook 2010 http://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2010/05 10) Han Xudong, Arms sales help US extend its
sphere of influence http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/commentary/2010-12/604721.html 11) Pentagon's New Global Military Partner:
Sweden http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../2380 12) The Financiarul, September 9, 2009 http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../u-s-china-military-tensions-grow 15) U.S. Builds Military Alliance With Japan,
South Korea For War In The http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../u-s-builds-military-alliance-with-japan-south-korea-for-war-in-the-east 16) Global Times, December 28, 2010 http://www.arabianbusiness.com/us-is-gulf-region-s-top-weapons-supplier-sipri-369338.html 18) SIPRI Fact Sheet, March 2010 http://books.sipri.org/files/FS/SIPRIFS1003.pdf |
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