the United States is arming countries hostile to Israel with some of its most advanced weapons systems.
For starters, the United States has sent hundreds of millions of dollars and sophisticated spying equipment to Lebanon, which was supposed to be used against Hezbollah but has been used to crack down on Israeli spy networks instead.
In the last two weeks the Unites States has pledged $150 million to the PA, without preconditions, even though the PA refuses to negotiate with Israel.
Worst of all is the $60 billion arms deal the Unites States announced last month with Saudi Arabia. Not only is this equivalent to all the arms the U.S. sold to Saudi Arabia between the years 1950 and 2006, it is the largest arms deal in U.S. history.
The Saudis will receive some of America's most advances equipment, including F-15 fighter-bombers, Blackhawk and Apache helicopters, laser-guided bombs, advanced radar systems, and Harpoon and Sidewinder missiles.
In addition, in the past week, the Obama administration has notified Congress of three additional arms deals with Gulf Arab states: the sale of $5 billion worth of Apache helicopters to the United Arab Emirates, as well as tactical missile systems to Bahrain.
Over the summer, Washington has also pressed ahead with the sale of aircraft and Patriot missiles to Kuwait, and $3.5 billion worth of F-16s to Oman.
By making these sales, writes Michael Freund, "Obama is running the risk of upsetting the military balance, tilting it in favor of the rejectionist Arab regimes and against Israel. And he is putting high-tech US weapons in the hands of fair-weather friends who do not share the West’s values or ideals."
Sunday, November 14, 2010
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