USA = TOTALLY AWESOME PLACE

[jebreject]

U.S. Sells the Most Weapons to Others

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 30, 9:05 PM ET

The United States is the largest supplier of weapons to developing nations, delivering more than $9.6 billion in arms to Near East and Asian countries last year.

The U.S. sales to the developing countries helped boost worldwide weapons sales to the highest level since 2000, a congressional study says.

The total worldwide value of all agreements to sell arms last year was close to $37 billion, and nearly 59 percent of the agreements were to sell weapons to developing nations, according to the Congressional Research Service report.

The weapons being sold range from ammunition to tanks, combat aircraft, missiles and submarines.

As economic pressures led to a worldwide decline in weapons orders ,Aei from about $42 billion in 2000 to $37 billion last year ,Aei competition is forcing the U.S. and European countries to forge agreements to develop weapons jointly.

The CRS report released Monday said worldwide arms deliveries to developing nations rose from $20.8 billion in 2003, to $22.5 billion last year. Agreements to sell weapons, meanwhile, shot up from $15.1 billion to nearly $21.8 billion last year. China, Egypt and India were the heaviest buyers of the weapons.

Last year, for example, the U.S. completed agreements to sell helicopters and other weapons to Egypt, radar systems to Taiwan, helicopters to Brazil and Israel and other weapons systems to Oman and Pakistan.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack explained the transfers as "a very serious national security and a foreign policy matter" carried out under "a very rigorous set of rules and regulations and laws."

"And just as we exercise restraint in our own transfers, we encourage restraint by other countries," including the European Union, which McCormack said should reconsider its decision to resume arms shipments to China.

Developing countries are the weapons' primary buyers. And the U.S. has been the most active seller for the past eight years, resulting mainly from agreements made in the aftermath of the first Gulf War. The U.S. was responsible for more than 42 percent of the deliveries to developing nations in 2004.

Russia, which ranks second, sells mostly to China and India, as well as a number of smaller, poorer countries.

The CRS study, which is done each year, was written by national defense specialist Richard Grimmett. He said in the study that developed nations have tried in recent years to emphasize joint projects rather than simply buying the weapons from each other, so they can preserve their own industrial bases.

___

On the Net:

Congressional Research Service: http://www.crs.gov

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050831/ap_on_go_co/weapons_trade

[martin_van_buren]

Who names their kid "Lolita"?

[heather marie]

Go Amurrrrikkka.

[Ah_Pook]

yes, i agree

[furnhusch]

Without arms, one cannot hug.

[alexandra]

but you can't hug your kids with nuclear arms


 

[/family guy quote]

[elpollodiablo]

Conceptually, I really like America; in actuality, it sucks on my cock.

[davy]

Conceptually, I really like America; in actuality, it sucks on my cock.

on the $

[jebreject]

Conceptually, I still kinda hate the place.

Good people though.  Lots of 'em.

[Greg Nog]

pollo, I agree wholeheartedly with that assessment.

Who names their kid "Lolita"?

Humbert Humbert?

[John]

Conceptually, I really like America; in actuality, it sucks on my cock.

and yet here you are complaining about it

[elpollodiablo]

Well... yeah?

[swilkes]

wouldn't sucking on your cock be a good thing for you?  Or perhaps you meant "biting my ass"? Just sayin'.

Don't y'all worry, soon enough, Russia'll be atop that list once again. They're still manufacturing Kalashnikovs, aren't they?

[elpollodiablo]

America is dumb, it's like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive.

[heather marie]

HEY NOW...

[Andrew_TSKS]

don't be offended, heather: as has been proven on this board countless times over, pollo is way too loaded down with snobby prejudices for his tastes to be trusted as unbiased in pretty much any situation. a mainstream movie actor who also has a cult following? forget about it, if pollo liked ANYONE that that statement described, it would conflict with his prejudices so heavily that he'd quickly find a way to convince himself he didn't.

[cold before sunrise]

where do you think uranium and plutonium come from? sorry guys, i guess canada and australia are like, the most stupendously rotten places ever just because we've got stuff.
the united states produces arms?! no way. in the seventh grade our social studies teacher showed us an overhead with a page covered in tiny dots and said one of the dots represented all warheads detonated in both world wars plus several other major disputes. the full page represented american weapons production since then. scary to a twelve-year-old but you learn to find peace with things as you get older.

[heather marie]

don't be offended, heather: as has been proven on this board countless times over, pollo is way too loaded down with snobby prejudices for his tastes to be trusted as unbiased in pretty much any situation. a mainstream movie actor who also has a cult following? forget about it, if pollo liked ANYONE that that statement described, it would conflict with his prejudices so heavily that he'd quickly find a way to convince himself he didn't.

Normally, I don't find the Devil Chicken to be too devil-ish, but I love Johnny Depp. However, I do think I am the only girl in the world who actually likes him for his films and not his looks.

[elpollodiablo]

Let's put our personal feelings about Johnny Depp aside for a moment and examine this statement, shall we?

"America is dumb, it's like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive."

On second thought, let's not do that.

[elpollodiablo]

Andrew wins, btw.

[heather marie]

Hey, we all have our Jordan Michael days, Johnny Depp included.

[John]

wouldn't sucking on your cock be a good thing for you?  Or perhaps you meant "biting my ass"? Just sayin'.

haha pollo I thought you might be a little too focused to catch the joke but yeah, it's what swilkes sez:

you: this entity scarfs my John Thomas
me: I can't see why you're complaining

thanks, tip your bartender

[elpollodiablo]

I'm trying to pick my mind up outta that gutter.

[Nobodaddy]

Leaving for Canada in five hours...

[elpollodiablo]

WELL, FUCK