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I greet you in the love and the light of the infinite Creator.
3 Facts That Will Change Everything You Believe About U.S. Foreign Policy.
By, Nick Bernabe. (ANTIMEDIA) The Unites States has the world�s
most powerful military � and a huge budget to match it. In fact, the U.S. spends more
on defense than the next seven countries� military budgets combined. America�s navy
has been branded a �Global Force for Good,� and U.S. military operations around the world
are sold to the public as freedom-by-force operations (see: Operation Iraqi Freedom).
But what is the truth about America�s foreign policy? Is America truly a benevolent empire
hell-bent on raining democracy-by-drone strikes around the world? To answer this question,
we looked at America�s arms global deals and came to a rather disappointing conclusion.
The United States is the largest exporter of freedom-promoting military weaponry in
the world, accounting for 33 percent of total sales. This is not really surprising considering
the U.S. is the world�s strongest superpower with a technological advantage in military
equipment over every other country. What is surprising, however, is which countries the
U.S. is exporting these arms to. The top three beneficiaries of American arms sales from
2011-2015 raise some serious red flags that may change the way people think about U.S.
foreign policy.
#1. Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is America�s largest customer when it comes to military equipment. According
to the Congressional Research Service,�Between October 2010 and October 2014, Washington
and Riyadh reached more than $90 billion in weapons deals,� the Washington Post noted.
That�s a lot of freedom. The only problem is that Saudi Arabia doesn�t exactly support
freedom. In fact, they actively suppress it. Poets, journalists, activists, and dissidents
are actively persecuted in Saudi Arabia for opposing the monarchy. They are beheaded by
the hundreds, flogged, and literally crucified publicly to set an example. Hell, even four
of the country�s own princesses are locked in prison for advocating equal rights.
Many experts believe the Saudis helped create ISIS, the out-of-control terror group now
rampaging across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is the driving force behind Wahhabism, a radical
form of Sunni Islam that ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other radical Islamic militant groups subscribe
to. Recent developments in the 9/11 investigation documents even point toward Saudi Arabian
officials having a role in the September 11th attacks. Saudi Arabia is actively involved
in the Yemeni civil war, with the help of not only (obviously) American arms, but U.S.
and British advisors overseeing the campaign. A �limited� number of U.S. troops are
now on the ground in Yemen in �non-combat� roles. The Saudi-led, U.S.-backed operation
is responsible for numerous war crimes, including the bombings of hundreds of healthcare facilities.
By any modern measure, Saudi Arabia is the poster child for everything that is wrong
with the world � and U.S. foreign policy.
#2. United Arab Emirates.
Surely the UAE � the second largest recipient of U.S. arms from 2011-2015 � is using those
weapons to create freedom for their people, right? Not exactly. According to Human Rights
Watch:
�The United Arab Emirates (UAE) continued in 2014 to arbitrarily detain individuals
it perceives as posing a threat to national security, and its security forces continued
to face allegations that they torture detainees in pretrial detention. UAE courts invoked
repressive laws to prosecute government critics, and a new counterterrorism law poses a further
threat to government critics and rights activists. Migrant construction workers on one of the
country�s most high-profile projects continued to face serious exploitation, and female domestic
workers were still excluded from regulations that apply to workers in other sectors.�
The UAE is generally aligned with Saudi Arabia in their backing of theocratic Islamic militant
movements across the Middle East. If the U.S. is claiming to be waging a war against terror,
they are arming the wrong actors in the region; it�s these �allies� that are helping
to create the very terrorists the U.S. spends trillions fighting against.
#3. Turkey.
Turkey is the third largest buyer of American arms since 2011. If you listen to the U.S.
government�s talking points, you probably believe the billions in arms we sell to them
go toward making Turkey a free, democratic society. The only problem is that these talking
points are patently false. Turkey is quickly regressing into what can be described as a
borderline dictatorship, with the notoriously brutal President Erdogan usurping more and
more power by the day. As noted by Consortium News.
�Erdogan�s ambition and aggressive drive to spread his Islamic agenda are what has
determined every political move he made. Seeking to constitutionally transfer the executive
authority of the country to the Presidency is the final step to legally consolidate his
power.�
And anyone who gets in his way is dealt with heavy-handedly. Free speech has come under
relentless attack. In the most recent Turkish election, opposition media outlets were raided,
editors were arrested, and control was handed over to the Erdogan-friendly government. Erdogan
ousted his democratically-elected Prime Minister and longtime ally, Ahmet Davutoglu, because
he disagreed with him. Protests movements are crushed by riot police and assassinations
of opposition figures occur rather regularly (and conveniently).
Turkey uses the weapons we send them to expand their influence at the expense of countless
innocent lives. The most prominent example of this is Turkey�s role in the Syrian Civil
War. Turkish media has accused the government of supplying (American made?) weapons to ISIS,
with video footage to back up their assertions. One journalist who made these claims, a U.S.
citizen, was found dead. Three more have been arrested.
Further, Turkey has been accused of buying millions of dollars worth of black market
oil from ISIS, which helped them fund their rampage across Iraq and Syria. Turkey also
unilaterally invaded Iraq without the country�s permission and actively bombs Kurdish strongholds,
though coincidentally, the Kurds are one of the few groups that have been able to effectively
defeat ISIS on the battlefield.
Explaining why Turkey wants to overthrow the Syrian government would take a dozen articles.
But to make an extremely complex argument simple, let�s just say the country would
benefit greatly from the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the form of a planned oil
pipeline that would flow from Arab states, through Turkey, and into its final market:
Europe. This puts Turkey, a NATO member, directly at odds with Russia, which is currently the
largest supplier of fossil fuels to Europe. Assad, a Russian ally, stands in the way of
this pipeline.
Ultimately, it�s nearly impossible to make the case that U.S. foreign policy is a �Global
Force for Good.� It seems, more often than not, America supports and arms the wrong sides
of conflicts and undemocratic dictatorial regimes friendly to U.S. economic interests.
A recent study showed nations are 100 times more likely to intervene in foreign conflicts
if a country is rich in resources, and the U.S. is by and large the biggest exporter
of �democracy� � and arms � to oil-rich regions.