Bad omens for the future

[berserkfan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/world/middleeast/sale-of-us-arms-fuels-the-wars-of-arab-states.html?_r=0


Read the article and say whether you liked what was going on. Call it a character test, or at least an indicator of your values.

For a guy who remembers stuff in the papers and news going back into the 1980s, all this is depressingly familiar.

Context: Iraq and Iran were at war and the US sold Iraq ingredients for chemical weapons to gas an Iran that was the US' biggest munitions customer in the previous decade.

[tp4tissue]

So, We agree the killing is bad..

But look at it from the perspective of the policy makers..   

Their job..  "fund the deficit."

HOW..

What industry is capable of generating the kind of cash that can flow INTO the united states..

They're sure as hell not buying any of our cars.

[tp4tissue]

we also sell alotta bourbon..  but not $80 billions worth.

[katushkin]

This is nothing new. This never stopped happening. The middle east has been the site of proxy wars for a hundred years, and until the oil dries up it will remain that way.

It's actually beneficial to everyone's economy, because the middle east don't have to worry about spending money developing their own weapons (other than Israel) and then the US/Russia don't have to worry quite so much about the price of oil. The arab nations love their money too much, and would rather buy proven tech from Russia/America than spend a **** ton more developing their own. Then they get their European cars, their Russian caviar, their American business partners, with a lot less questions.

Without these arms deals, America would either have to reduce arms production, therefore cutting jobs, or increase the size of the military and thus increase public spending and more than likely reduces the increasingly liberal public opinion of the administration.

[Novus]

I don't approve of selling these weapons but it's brilliant!

[baldgye]

Remember when the U.S. backed the IRA? Good times.

[Novus]

Remember when the U.S. backed the IRA? Good times.

Remember when aliens invaded and replaced our president with a Cyborg?

[fanpeople]

Remember when the U.S. backed the IRA? Good times.

Remember when aliens invaded and replaced our president with a Cyborg?

Good times?

[tp4tissue]

Remember when the U.S. backed the IRA? Good times.

Next time IRA threatens independence.. You'll know who to thank..

[heedpantsnow]

War is bad.  Killing is unloving. But how will we pay for all the people who refuse to work (direct arms sales by the U.S. government to allies generated billions of dollars per year)? 
And should the government have the power to tell defense contractors who they can and can't do business with?

[tp4tissue]

War is bad.  Killing is unloving. But how will we pay for all the people who refuse to work (direct arms sales by the U.S. government to allies generated billions of dollars per year)? 
And should the government have the power to tell defense contractors who they can and can't do business with?

Considering that America is the hardest working country on the planet.. ??

[tbc]

War is bad.  Killing is unloving. But how will we pay for all the people who refuse to work (direct arms sales by the U.S. government to allies generated billions of dollars per year)? 
And should the government have the power to tell defense contractors who they can and can't do business with?

Considering that America is the hardest working country on the planet.. ??

no.  china is.  specifically southern china.

it's not 'documented' because no one wants to interview factory workers.

[berserkfan]

Considering that America is the hardest working country on the planet.. ??

Right, and TP's the sanest guy on geekhack