Behind the democratic façade

* chris deliso:

"Behind the democratic façade, of course, is sheer and simple greed: the desire to maximize profit for the American weapons industry, by fueling a regional arms race. America is now using the specter of Israeli might to scare the hell out of its neighbors. Racketeering on an epic scale, disguised by the occasional recourse to diplomacy, is the ugly reality behind America's Middle East policy.
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The tactic used with all these Arab lackey administrations is something like this: go ahead, keep (some of) your oil billions, just keep buying your security from us. Because we have Israel on a long, long leash indeed…

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It goes without saying, therefore, that the interests of politically connected American arms dealers would definitely not be met by any resolution of the Middle East armed conflicts.
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As the British also know, American experts concede that it is basically impossible to guarantee the final destination of not only the military hardware but also, and perhaps more importantly, the knowledge needed to make it. The hemorrhaging of sensitive weapons-design information often is due to espionage, aided by corruption in high places and expedited by fraudulent end-user licenses. Yet this is just one of the ways that foreign regimes get their hands on cutting-edge American weapons technologies.
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Nevertheless, the U.S. will no doubt continue arming both sides in the Greek-Turkish conflict, as it always has, resulting in ever greater profits for the Washington lobbyists representing the two countries' interests and the defense contractors who stock their arsenals.

The same danger of a regional arms race is being witnessed in a nearby region, the Caucasus. Azerbaijan, itself a strong American and Turkish ally and pivotal export hub for Caspian Sea oil and gas, has also seen the light and publicly voiced its desire to deepen ties with Israel.
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Despite the rhetoric, there is one thing every U.S. administration has never tried to do in any of these conflicts. It is something that leaders have never been able to do, for reasons of their own political survival: to make peace through peaceful means, without even a word being spoken about arms sales. Is this really too much to ask? "

another terrific article by chris. go read the rest - this is all Sibel-related.
(thnx Geoff)