United States: Largest Trader of Arms and Weapons

The United States claims to be determined to cleanse the world of the scourge of terrorism, but how great an exporter of terrorism that country itself is, can be visualized and assessed from a recently published report that reveals that the US share in the worldwide trade of arms and equipment is approximately two-thirds of the total.

Congressional Report
The New York Times has disclosed on the basis of a Congressional report that the Unite States is the largest trader of arms and weapons in the world. Interestingly, the United States terms Muslims terrorists, and hypes the threat of the Islamic terrorism, but the largest buyers of its weapons and arms are three major Islamic countries. This implies that, while the United States supplies arms to Muslim countries and does it by way creating a situation that forces these countries to buy arms and equipment from it. One wonders whether by raising the bogey of terrorism, the United States is employing some tactics to further enhance the sale of its arms.

Transfer of Arms to Developing Nations
The New York Times has carried a report entitled "Transfer of Arms to Developing Nations." In the report, the newspaper has presented some alarming statistics on the sale of arms. It reveals that since 2003, there has been a gradual increase in the sale of arms by the United States.

During 2002, the United States had sold weapons worth $7.505 billion, but during the previous two years, in 2001 and 2002, its sale was much lower and stood at $5.801 billion and $4.984 billion, respectively. It may be recalled that in September 2001, the World Trade Center in New York was attacked.

Although the sale of arms in 2002 decreased, yet the United States hugely publicized and propagated that attack, and presented a horrendous face of terrorism, which created a sense of insecurity all over the world.

Positions of Other Major Countries
It was perhaps because of this that there was a great jump in the sale of the US arms in 2003. During the three-year period of 2005, 2006, and 2007, the trade crossed the $7 billion mark. In 2008, the United States sold arms worth $37.8 billion, and continued to be the largest trader of arms.

Italy is the next largest supplier of arms, which sold arms worth $3.7 billion, and Russia remained third in the race, selling arms worth $3.5 billion. This speaks volumes for the US supremacy in arms trade. The United States continues to top the list of being the largest trader of arms for years.

Largest Buyers of US Arms Among Islamic Countries
The self-proclaimed champion of peace, the United States strives to make developing countries fight among themselves or attempts to provoke insurgency and revolts in them. If all this fails, it creates a fear psychosis of terrorism among them to create a market for sale of its arms.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco are the largest buyers of the US equipment and arms among Islamic countries, although they do not face any major challenge to their defense, nor do they face much threat from terrorism. One wonders whether these weapons bought officially being are used elsewhere by unauthorized means, and whether these weapons are reaching terrorists.

One also wonders whether the United States is purposely looking the other way only to continue to sell its arms! Such questions are natural to crop up in view of the US policy of advancing self-interests.

Lack in US Policies
Whatever be the use of the arms sold to Islamic countries, one thing is certain that the United States is deriving benefit from the weakness of these countries. Its trade of weapons also gives rise to a confrontation among Islamic countries. The United States provides large quantities of arms and equipment to Pakistan, while India is an important buyer of its arms. There has been a great spurt in arms and defense equipment purchased by India from the United States.

At a time when tension between India and Pakistan continues and since they have earlier fought many a war, and continue to face each other at the border, the US policies are responsible for creating the situation as both India and Pakistan buy arms from it. At the same time, the two countries profess friendship with the United States and the United States, reciprocating that friendship, calls on them to adopt the path of peaceful dialogue to settle their issues. In fact, the United States wants to make good the failure of its economic policies through sale of arms. To achieve this aim, it creates a situation in developing countries to compel them to buy arms for their defense.

Situation of Confrontation
At a matter of fact, the world has become unipolar, in which the so-called US supremacy is at stake. Its economy is singing the swan song. Several of its banks and industries have gone bankrupt. In view of this, the only thing that the United States can fall back on is nothing but sale of arms and their export. This export of arms, in fact, is causing a situation of confrontation and armed revolts in several countries of the world.

The United States is also responsible for escalation of that so-called terrorism. Interestingly, it is this terrorism that the United States has promised to bring to an end! But this determination is nothing more than eyewash!