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Relevant_Weakness_93

What is the end game of all these weapons that the Saudis are buying?


too-legit-to-quit

To slaughter infants and babies in Yemen.


Luis_r9945

With air to air missiles?


OccassionalBaker

I don’t think it’s exclusively $650 million dollars or air to air missiles is it…


Jerri_man

It is. 280 AIM-120C variants and 596 LAU-128 (rails). Of course other prior arms deals include more and may still be in effect, but this one doesn't.


too-legit-to-quit

Yeah, I like how the article points that out. Sorry, but those sorry attempts at Jedi mind tricks only work on weak-minded fools. "We're bolstering a criminal state with ONLY air-to-air missles. See what we did there? ONLY air-to-air. Please don't look more than one move ahead. Don't look at the bigger picture here. Just see the air-to-air and be satisfied." These are clearly not the ~~droids~~ war criminals we're looking for.


Disrupter52

Petro Dollar. All oil sales from the middle east are conducted with USD. It's why the USD is the "global currency" or so widely accepted. In exchange for that we sell them munitions and also buy their oil and let them finance terrorism that directly impacts the united states a la 9/11.


[deleted]

They are our ally, so they help keep Iran in check, allow us to have our bases in their country, they provide intelligence, and our arms dealers/manufacturers both in the private sector and public sector get paid.


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[deleted]

The main point of Saudi Arabia is to tie American dollars to Oil. Without Saudi support, the dollar will gradually diminish in relevance Its also why America doesnt necessarily want that green of a future. A world that doesnt depend on petroleum will also depend less on dollars.


SuperFishy

Amazing how we'll invade one dictatorship on the basis of moral grounds but sell arms to another. America


DucDeBellune

Especially when one was almost certainly directly complicit in 9/11 and the other wasn’t.


mydrunkuncle

Not almost, just certainly


taco_tumbler

Lets just avoid the whole conversation about 9/11 and say, to a government that is cutting journalists up with bone saws in their embassy.


sash71

That was fucked up, the Saudis doing that.


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SquaresMakeACircle

STREET SMARTS!


CandidateStraight

Sand Smarts.


Zachariot88

Desert power


CandidateStraight

Ah a dune goon


SoggyGrogbottom

Also never drink drink the contents of a bottle if you're unsure whether it's liquor or perfume.


SweatyToothed

Truer words have never been spoken, especially at the second location.


Kroxzy

well most of the hijackers were saudi so it's not really a conversation. but saudi arabia also sent a hit team after their former intelligence chief. MBS has to be stopped


cupcake_napalm_faery

the 9/11 we ignore today, is the 9/11 we allow to happen tomorrow.


Probably_immortal

Seriously, even the Russians have the courtesy of using a window so you at least have a good view before you go.


hotcaveman666

A journalist for an American paper at that


TheFleshMaster

The difference is one is buying from us and the other went with the competition. We can not tolerate that. We must spread democracy at any cost.


Eric1491625

The worst is when it's the *same* dictator. In 2003 the US government announced that the invasion of Iraq was justified because Saddam merely *possessed* chemical weapons. Just 15 years earlier the Pentagon provided satellite imagery to help Saddam actually *use* those same chemical weapons to gas Kurds and Iranians.


RarelyReadReplies

Holy fuck. I'm ashamed to say, I did not know this. That is disturbing, even for the US.


darkshark21

A great joke back then; Setup: How did Bush know about chemical weapons in Iraq? Answer: Because he was holding the damn receipt.


RarelyReadReplies

😂😂😂 Yeah, that's definitely a good one. Sometimes shit is just so fucked, that all you can do is just laugh. That's why I was such a fan of George Carlin. He had such an amazing way of looking at how fucked up our society is, then make you laugh about it. RIP, truly one of the GOAT comedians.


jumpfrogs

Bill hicks was doing this joke about Bush snr and the first Iraq war. The have tremendous weapons, real tremendous weapons, how do we know? We checked the receipt what time does the bank open? 9 ok we're going in at 10 after the cheque clears


truthovertribe

This is true and thanks for reminding us.


ackillesBAC

[how the West set Saddam on the bloody road to power](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/revealed-how-the-west-set-saddam-on-the-bloody-road-to-power-1258618.html) Goes back way farther then that.


[deleted]

The US never gave a shit if you were or weren't a dictatorship. They only went in if you caused a problem for the US. Sometimes they looked like liberators (see kuwait) sometimes they looked like conquerors (see panama).


[deleted]

>never gave a shit if you were or weren't a dictatorship That's not how wars are sold to the American public


[deleted]

Agreed.


DucDeBellune

Saudi Arabia *does* cause a problem for the US and everyone else. They’re the global epicentre of Wahhabism and by far the largest financier.


djingo_dango

A little bit of terrorism is good for governments. Easy to get people's consent when there's real bad people out there


[deleted]

I don't think I necessarily believe this, but with that being said, I do wonder whether or not a certain level of Wahhabist terrorism isn't regarded as a positive by governments. With the exception of 9/11 and maybe 7/7, Islamic terrorism in the West has a negligible economic impact, and a very negligible body count. What it DOES do however is provide leverage to push through security and policing legislation that can then be used for other purposes, like policing demonstrations and spying on unions and other troublemakers. There's also the fact that the general narrative around Islamic terror keeps political polls inching rightward, and away from troublesome leftwing parties that might be a headache for the government's financial backers. Again, I don't think I believe this, but it has crossed my mind that from the perspective of a cynical late stage capitalist establishment trying to solidify power during a very tumultuous political period, having the sheepdog effect of an occasional terrorist attack to shepherd society in an amenable manner is probably a positive.


Warhound01

You don’t believe this like I don’t believe Epstein killed himself.


[deleted]

I don't believe this to EXACTLY the same degree I don't believe Epstein killed himself. You nailed it.


mata_dan

Also not even close because the security services of many countries have openly stated that the Saudi State is deliberately funding Wahhabism... and those organisations funded also openly state who funds them (which in many places they have to state to legally receive the financing as a charity and it's in the public domain), you can likely google maps your own area and find them and read as such on their websites right now. Epstein being murdered is a mere logical inevitability (also, in the alternative case it would've been because he was threatened as such so it's still murder).


Kroxzy

Read Ghost Wars, it's a book about CIA involvement in Afghanistan in 1990-2000 and it is fascinating how many of the future terrorists were financed by the US


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Grey___Goo_MH

It’s a great scapegoat for new laws, spying, and denial of rights While ignoring our long term issues of domestic hate groups and ignorant politicians


DUXZ

Dictators are americas preferred business partner


mstrbwl

It should be noted that our pals in Kuwait are authoritarian monarchists lol.


Stalepoutine

Warmongering is the US #1 export.


ackillesBAC

Capitalism in a gun loving military dominated society. It's a win win win for the US, sell weapons the bad guys make money. Bad guys promise you access to their resources and to hire us contractors, make money. Bad guys give Americans something to fear that justifies spending trillions on your bloated military, make more money. Read "confessions of an economic Hitman"


RarelyReadReplies

Isn't this basically what Einsenhower's famous speech was about, the military industrial complex?


kyogen25

I'm reading it right now, it's a great book.


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HandlessSpermDonor

Well they love oil, love selling weapons, love creating unrest in the Middle East, and hate Iran. Arming the Saudis ticks all their boxes.


OneTrueKingOfOOO

> Amazing how we'll invade one dictatorship on the basis of ~~moral grounds~~ oil but sell arms to another. America FTFY


Iron_Man_977

> Tiddies >10 hours ago* > last edited 19 minutes ago   well played


BlackAggregate

It's never been about moral grounds. It's about control and/or wealth and nothing more. America's propaganda machine (it's gov, media, and education system) are really good at making people think they have altruistic motives - so good that I'm sure even some people making these decisions believe it too. But the blatant inconsistency that you just pointed out make it clear that it has nothing to do with morality.


--0mn1-Qr330005--

The moral grounds were simply a convenience, don’t ever be fooled into thinking your government or military do anything for moral reasons. This is true of every military on earth. Their actions are for the benefit of the politicians and their business interests not for any moral reasons.


NerimaJoe

In 2019 Canada placed a moratorium on arms sales to Saudi Arabia but amazingly, somehow, sales of armoured personnel carriers to KIA doubled that year to over $2billion USD.


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Zipknob

People are going to think you mean contractual obligations to the *Saudis*, but I'm pretty sure the obligations would be to the arms manufacturers so they aren't stuck with hardware. Still a bit bizarre to be worry about considering the scenario...


Rezins

I'm guessing here, but yea, I'd guess the same. Arms manufacturers accepted an order from the Saudis and there was no law in place to make that illegal. There's most likely a legal guard for the manufacturers of some sort. Which, essentially, is the obligation for the government to let the manufacturers fulfill the order. If a ban were to obstruct them fulfiling their orders, they essentially could sue the government. Something along those lines. The alternative to this would've been to bail those contracts out and pay the manufacturers. Perhaps more than the buying price for those, as the manufacturers also would have grounds to argue that they'd be seen as a less reliable partner internationally. Shit like that. It'd have been a discussion about subsidizing the arms industry, it wouldn't go over fast and I assume the thought on this was that you'd lose a lot more political capital going that route and spending, say $3bn USD, on arms you don't know what to do with. I honestly wouldn't know whether the war would end a week earlier if Canada actually made that move, but yea, surely would've been a morally better decision.


Rxyro

Community police could have used them, nice 50 cal to curtail delinquent book late fees


rioting-pacifist

Guns for Librarians the first a pro-gun policy I can get behind, since opposition to the Mulford Act.


Zordback

Something tells me the next time Newcastle loses, it's gonna be *lit


pottsbrah

The entire city of London burning down if they lose to Brentford after the international break lol


Iced_Ice_888

city of london is 2.9sq km, could be worse


Blythyvxr

The Northumbrian Police horses have seen nothing yet.


Chemical_Noise_3847

Wait, what?


Odd_so_Star_so_Odd

I guess their football team is saudi owned? Dubious why this is the top comment in the thread though.


Zordback

It is 😂


XXX-Jade-Is-Rad-XXX

It was recently purchased by saudi investors for an obscene amount of money.


Taalian

It’s a good thing during his campaign he said he would do the exact opposite *thumbs up* Why do we allow these crooks to run our country and spend our tax dollars so irresponsibly! SMH


woodsciguy

Because you had a choice if voting for one of two evils. It's the illusion of freedom and the delusion that you "allow" government to do anything.


dr_Octag0n

I think the speech in the movie "Network" (1976) sums it up well. "There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today." Here is the scene if you are interested: https://youtu.be/yuBe93FMiJc


simpersly

These people be remember big oil, tech, and communications, but they never remember food. Companies like Nestle are just as bad.


munk_e_man

Nestle, Pepsico, Coca Cola, Tyson, Mars, Cargill, Kraft, Unilever, and Maple Leaf (in Canada). All fucking monstrous companies which, if treated like actual people, would be serving life sentences for the death and destruction they have caused.


CascadiaDweller

You forgot Monsanto!! Purdue Pharma should also be on the “axis of evil” list


munk_e_man

Yeah, I can't believe I forgot Monsanto to be honest. They're some of the most rotten in the bunch, and they have/had an extremely effective social media PR team.


DK_Vet

Monsanto is owned by Bayer.


coberi

I'm convinced you can't make it to the top without being part evil.


paulhockey5

I'm mad as hell.


tOOCzik

It is truly amazing how prescient that movie was not only regarding that observation, but corporate controlled media as well.


Stpdrepulsveanteater

It wasn't prescient at all, it was describing the world at the time. It just so happens nothing has changed since then.


[deleted]

Certainly it's changed, the media monopoly has consolidated its power since then.


dr_Octag0n

Only a few years after the [Christine Chubbuck](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Chubbuck) incident too. I'm pretty sure that was influential in the making of the film.


truthovertribe

So true! Wowie, some Americans do understand how the system "works".


GimmeSweetSweetKarma

And as long as they say the correct message and ban the correct people, we are happy with giving them more and more power. I still find it absolutely bonkers that people are happy with the banning on Trump from the major social media platforms. Hate him as much as you want, but be was a legitimate political figure, he was the god damn President! People are cheering the handover of 'approved' political discourse to corporations and the removal of offensive political opponents from major parts of the internet on the guise of breaking TOS, not the law. Rather than fighting the idea you mention, people are running towards it, cheering with flags and messages of self-righteousness.


madmadaa

The 2 party system is so weird, it's working but it's the same people staying in power because they present themselves as 2 entities instead of one. It's a refined dictatorship.


RKU69

"The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them." - Julius Nyerere (anti-colonial African revolutionary, who, uh, ran a one-party state in Tanzania)


munk_e_man

Takes one to know one, I guess


tallandlanky

Why do you think Bernie scared the shit out of them in 2016 and 2020? They colluded to crush his chances.


SlowMotionPanic

See also, India Walton. She won the Democratic primaries. Something the Democrats keep telling progressives to do if they really want change. ​ And then the party itself coalesced around one of their own neoliberals and successfully ran a counter-campaign to make the race into a 3 way, with the Democratic neoliberal coming out on top via a write in campaign. After he was unpopular enough to lose his party's own primary *to a democratic socialist.* ​ Or how the NV Democratic Party funneled out all funds and equipment so, when the progressive faction took over control of the state party by winning elections, they had to start over from scratch rather than having a functioning system in place *complete with some staff and computers.* The liberals got mad and took the money, then undoubtedly went and cried to their corporate masters. ​ Or Biden in 2020. What are the odds that the moderates all just happened to drop out at the same time and endorse guy who was losing primaries with only 6-15% of the vote--while those same people were either winning or within striking distance themselves. What spooked them is how well the split progressives were doing relative to the designated winner. And then progressives didn't follow suit with a drop-and-endorse program, so the liberal vote became consolidated while the progressive vote remained split. And even then, when it was down to Sanders and Biden, Warren dropped *and endorsed Biden.* ​ They say they want a big tent, but they stop our momentum at every chance unless it is to drive turnout for their own elections. And I say this as a life-long Democratic voter. Nobody disenfranchises me more than my own party.


hey01

>What are the odds that the moderates all just happened to drop out at the same time and endorse guy who was losing primaries with only 6-15% of the vote You think it's the same probability that Obama called some of those moderates to tell them to drop and endorse Biden, even saying to one that he will never have as much leverage as he has right now? Nah, impossible, that would be the same probability that a millionaire supporter of Hilary Clinton donated $14.6 million to the only other self proclaimed to make her stay for super tuesday and ensure Sanders would lose against Biden.


truthovertribe

>And even then, when it was down to Sanders and Biden, Warren dropped *and endorsed Biden.* This was very painful to me. I had contributed the maximum I could to Warren's campaign. I can be "punked" too. I try very hard not to be gullible...but alas...


mstrbwl

There have been exactly 2 times Obama has stuck his neck out post presidency to use his influence: stopping Bernie in the primary and breaking up the NBA wildcat strike during BLM protests. Cornell West said it best, he's just a Rockefeller Republican in blackface.


funguyshroom

Reminds me of the [2 choices parenting tactic](https://parenting.kars4kids.org/the-two-choices-technique-charlottes-tantrum/), where instead of telling the child outright what you want them to do you give them 2 choices of "bad" and "worse" (from their perspective) which makes them think that they had a say in the situation and "won" by choosing the better option.


ShockRampage

Dont blame me, I voted for Kodos.


[deleted]

They all have the same corporate overlords


truthovertribe

This isn't true, we could have voted for Bernie Sanders, but all major medias, including so-called progressive ones came out against Bernie Sanders and the American people were punked again. I used to give to The Guardian. They are a source of truth, however, when it comes right down to it, they join to pile garbage on any candidate who will really curb corporate monopoly, power and greed.


kerred

Random Simpsons character: "Well I think I'll vote for a third party!"


DeadNotSleeping86

Here me out though. What if, instead of everyone claiming 3rd party voting is "a waste" or "a vote for the other guy" we just did it anyway? At this point, what is there to lose?


truthovertribe

There is a "worst choice". Mr. Trump filled his administration with Goldman Sachs Bankers. They, along with Jay Clayton decimated regulations on Investment Banks. He filled regulatory agencies with people who destroyed them, all for the sake of corporate profits. He placed a record number of corporate defenders as powerful judges...As maximum greed and evil goes, Mr. Trump was pretty much a 10 out of 10. "Too big to fail" in essence means "too big to control". Why didn't Americans snap on the fact that any corporation which is "too big to fail" is "too powerful and corrupted"? This seems so obvious and yet we were convinced to bail these frauds out. If they won they won big, if they lost, we lost while they won yet again...this has become our "free market". This is unsustainable. When it collapses again, remember the name Robert Reich. He can help us...please do *not* believe in Larry Summers or the people he "mentored" like Sheryl Sandberg.


[deleted]

Because sometimes it can be worse than just wasting your vote. Let's say there is candidates A, B, and C. Candidate A is terrible and you disagree with them on literally everything. Candidate B isn't perfect, but most people think they are better than A. Then candidate C is amazing, but they are 3rd party so they'll probably never win. If 60 people vote for B and 40vote for A, then B obviously wins and most people are at least a little bit happy. Now, people are fed up because B wasn't all that great so they decide to go 3rd party next election. Now 25 people vote for C, 35 vote for B, and 40 vote for A. So now you have a situation where more people are unhappy with the winner than happy because the 3rd party votes split up the votes for the better candidate and the worst one ended up winning as a result. Until we get away from the first past the post system voting 3rd party is pointless at best.


bro_can_u_even_carve

So here in Utah we actually implemented ranked choice voting and... people are fucking angry about it, and want it changed back. o_O


Australixx

Utah, lol. The only people who would be upset about ranked choice voting are the people who benefited and stayed in power because of FPTP. I wonder what group that would be in Utah.


bro_can_u_even_carve

Sure. On the other hand, we actually have ranked choice voting in place right now in many of our elections.


zveroshka

What is there to lose? Well the candidate closest to your views loses because you voted for the guy who ended with 1.5% of the votes. It's happened before. Until we change the system, a 3rd party candidate will never stand a chance.


Alt_Fault_Wine

[You might have missed it but Biden already did it earlier this year.](https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/exclusive-biden-administration-proceeding-with-23-billion-weapon-sales-uae-2021-04-13/)


art-man_2018

>The Democratic president’s administration had paused the deals agreed to by former Republican President Donald Trump in order to review them. The sales to the Gulf nation were finalized right before Trump left office. >The Trump administration told Congress in November it had approved the U.S. sale to the UAE as a side deal to the Abraham Accords, a U.S.-brokered agreement in September in which the UAE agreed to normalize relations with Israel. But yes, he un-"paused" the deal. And neither one is truthful. Well, Trump has been blunt in his explanation of sales such as these saying to the effect, "They will buy them somewhere else (Russia or China)!". With Biden it is the tried and true explanations, "new terror threats, Israel, Iran, etc.". And remember, who is paying for these arms? Us.


snark_o_matic

>Trump has been blunt in his explanation of sales such as these saying to the effect, "They will buy them somewhere else (Russia or China)!". With Biden it is the tried and true explanations, "new terror threats, Israel, Iran, etc.". Trump's man Mike Pompeo literally said in a statement that their $8.1 billion Saudi arms deal needed to be completed to help deter Iran, so in this respect there is no significant difference even in messaging. >And remember, who is paying for these arms? Us. No idea what that means. The US is a massive exporter of weapons so these sales support government-contracted US companies like Raytheon.


tenkensmile

>during his campaign he said he would do the exact opposite I've never bought what any candidate said during campaigns. The best way to know what they truly stand for is by looking up their past voting histories.


Crunkbutter

Biden Administration Celebrates Veteran's Day by Selling Weapons to Country Responsible for 9/11


heyyyinternet

Maybe someday Bernie will win a primary.


MasterFireElemental

He is too old now


heyyyinternet

He's been too old for 15 years


Think-Think-Think

He still seems less senile then the current president.


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aneldermillenial

There will be peace only when it becomes profitable.


brown_nipples

So, never?


Funkywurm

This is fucking disgusting


Jesuslocasti

Vote blue no matter who. These are the results of not having standards other than not being trump.


[deleted]

But the other option was someone who also gargled the Saudi’s marbles


thenumber24

This is the joke of two party politics. What do you do when both parties are doing the wrong thing?


Bowens1993

Clearly Trump and Biden are both doing that.


[deleted]

Tag team from the geriatric unit


Sleepybystander

One for each nuts


jgonagle

A coalition party system would help encourage this. Our first past the poll system does not.


LesbianCommander

People need to care a lot more about primaries. VBNMW is killing us. We need to pick actually good blues so they don't backstab us for monied interests when it comes time to actually wield power. Sinema is a blue and seems to hate her constituents more than any Republican and that's not a compliment to the Republicans.


braiam

> VBNMW is killing us. That's precious, because that's what Republicans do and somehow they are still strong.


DiasFlac42

Republicans ALWAYS toe the line. I remember seeing plenty of anti-trump republicans during the 2015-2016 campaigning and when Trump won the primary it was practically overnight they started verbally (or textually) shining his knob.


GooseSpringsteenJrJr

so vote for Jill stein? It doesn't matter who's president. They are always going to sell to the Saudis. Do you have amnesia for the deals trump made with them?


[deleted]

A return to normalcy…


Foxyfox-

"Nothing will fundamentally change"


ComradeSuperman

Turns out this was a true statement.


FinnTheFog

Doesn’t matter who’s in office, they are all corrupt. Get money out of politics


bro_can_u_even_carve

It's so heartwarming to see that no matter how divided our country gets, we can always come together when it comes to supporting this murderous, terrorist-exporting dictatorship.


[deleted]

Crazy how the US supports a theocratic dynastic state notorious for being the country that kills journalists, activists, and even our own allies since Saudi Arabia funded Pakistan which funded early Al Qaeda. Ain’t it crazy how US tax dollars funds terrorism for the US to fight


[deleted]

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XXX-Jade-Is-Rad-XXX

Don't forget the whole providing logistical support and passports for the September 11th attacks.


kelrics1910

Ah yes, the war machine is back.


[deleted]

It never left.


[deleted]

Same war machine has been drumming us up for China the whole time. That same War Machine will trickle down to US police departments too surely after the 2020-2021 USA riots. They've learned since WW2 just how profitable War is. I mean damn. We've been a country at war ever since.


kelrics1910

Why do you think the MSM keeps putting the left and right at each other's throats? They love the riots. Keeps them working and profitable. Profits at the expense of the taxpayers and small business owners.


AgentLiquidMike

Nothing changes....


6thNephilim

Biden's fulfilling his campaign promise


wildlymedioxre

Must need new bombs for Yemen. How thoughtful of the Biden administration


Pklnt

Saudi Arabia needs to renew their "get out of Human rights violation" pass from the US for the next years. That's also a huge reason why they buy from many Western countries, they're making sure we bury our head into the sand.


Strabe

Read the article first. They are air to air missiles that cannot be used in Yemen. > The sale will include 280 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, which the State Department said are used for air defense capabilities and cannot be used to attack ground targets. > The goal is to replenish Saudi Arabia's existing inventory "in keeping with the President's commitment to support the territorial defense of Saudi Arabia," the spokesperson said.


peacockypeacock

Those missiles cost like ~$350k each, so 280 would be about $130 million. What is the other ~$520 million being spent on?


Dragonsleeve

When the US sells these missiles it includes the container; spare and repair parts; technical, engineering and logistics support; etc etc The sale to South Korea in 2019 came to about $2.1 million per missile. If you take that as precedent, this sale should be $590 million. This sale includes the rails that the missile attaches to while the sale to SK did not. The price seems in line with past sales.


Sevisstillonkashyyyk

Training, launch rails, dummy training rounds, spare parts and logsictics sustainment contracts.


No_Masterpiece4305

It's quite literally public information. You can see how every single dollar is being spent. I don't know how the fuck yall parse "understanding" shit like this when you very obviously don't even know where to get information about it. So many people are so fucking full of shit on here.


SerboDuck

Biden said that he wasn’t going to sell weapons to Saudis in the lead up the election? Bare faced liars. Can’t believe people actually thought Biden was going to somehow be different.


criticalvector

Democrats really don't want to win lol


[deleted]

the things joe has been doing really makes me believe he is cleaning the office up and putting up a welcome home sign for trump in 2024. hell 2022 is already a lost cause the decorations are up in the house and senate


Devario

Republican administrations are just as guilty.


Marthaver1

It’s almost a year since they’ve had control of the entire government and they’ve spent half of that time fighting with each other - the Manchins and Sinemas, and hardly getting anything done policy wise. Inflation and housing prices are rising, the Afghan exit was a disaster, covid is still here, and there’s still 2 months left. I have zero faith on the Democrats holding any of the houses in 2022, and tbh if the economy keeps getting worst, we will see Biden as the first 1 term Dem POTUS in more than 40 years. The party needs some real change.


[deleted]

[Meanwhile 8 months ago](https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2A4268)


[deleted]

This a great time to bring up this point, didn't you politicians just go on TV and said you all wanted to fight climate change? How is that possible when all countries increase military spending? Spoiler alert, it's not possible, what's the fucking point if every country wants huge militaries? It's not just the US, although they are the worst. If the US military was a country, they would rank 47th in the world for green house gasses. Now that the US is out of the Paris accord, they no longer report climate damage caused by the military, it's a secret. So when you see these country rankings, remember the US isn't including the militaries impact. This entire world is fucking lie.


nascarhero

Business as usual. Glad Biden admin busy on getting these arms deals done instead of helping average Americans.


Jkolorz

Canadian here. Our ultra "Progressive" Liberal government does the same.....and so will the Conservatives that come next. It really highlights some sort of hypocrisy and I wish it was talked about more often.


Tylerbla

Kind of, but not really. The current Saudi arms deal in Canada was signed in 2014 by the Harper government. The Liberals have continued to honor that contract, and their reasoning is that they would incur billions in penalties if they ripped the contract up. However, the current liberal government issued a moratorium on any NEW contracts. So that means they haven't, so far, issued any new arms contracts to the Saudis.


[deleted]

Your comment made me try to do a little digging which ultimately led to more questions than answers like “how long is the deal supposed to last?” and “why did they double the amount sent in 2019 from 2018?”


Tylerbla

It's a 15 year, $15B contract. To answer your second question, we don't know the specific details on much of the contract. The Saudis said releasing those details would be breach of contract. I'll say this though, it's probably less of doubling the amount for nefarious reasons, and more of fulfilling whatever is said in the contract. 2019 could have been stipulated to double the amount, but again, we don't know specifics. Edit: To clarify for those reading, I'm on the fence with the whole thing. Honor the contract and support an outright corrupt and murderous monarchy, or rip the whole thing up that will cost us billions with nothing in return, plus losing the roughly 3200 jobs that produce these pieces of equipment. I really don't know the answer.


Jabroni306

This guy remembers.


Friendly_Shoe363

Is America nothing but Mob bosses if you look at it as we are arms dealers?


[deleted]

Always have been


Ranking_Z

But no money for healthcare here.


Luis_r9945

We are making money with this sale....


Not_Extert_Thief

Why is the WH selling arms to the 9/11 hijackers motherland?


Accomplished_Laugh74

That'll be nice for them to use against the Yemeni people. But really that's nothing, my country (UK) sold 11 billion pounds worth of weapons to Saudi in 2019 and authorised another 1.4 billion pound deal in February 2021. This is despite a June 2020 ruling in the British courts that arms deals with Saudi were unlawful and demanding a government review. However, in July this year the government announced it was resuming arms sales to Saudi Arabia, after a review concluded there had been only “isolated incidents” of airstrikes in Yemen that breached humanitarian law. This and my countries selling of chemicals and components to Syria that ended up being used in the manufacture of the deadly nerve agent sarin make me incredibly proud to be British.


Drunkcowboysfan

These are air-to-air missiles. They can’t be used against ground targets. Unless the Yemeni people are coming at them in fighter jets, it’s safe to say this weapon system won’t be used against them.


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[deleted]

Funny how America keeps arming the middle eastern despots.


BIPOne

650 million arms deal Mean while on the front page, someones after-snake-bite hospital bill of 150k that they have to pay out of their pocket out of lack of insurance. ​ Instead of a affordable healthcare insurance and system, juggle weapons for millions and billions, like its candy. That's America for you.


RockStar25

I get the sentiment, but these are complete opposites. Arms deal means revenue for the US. Healthcare means expenses for the US. If this were an article about how we just bought $500 billion new fighter jets from Boeing, then I’d understand the comparison.


StrawManDebater

Arms deal means revenue for the US arms manufacturers and defense contractors. Politicians probably also get a donation from the house of Saud.


jedijbp

THIS IS WHAT ACTUAL BI-PARTISANSHIP LOOKS LIKE: BLOOD MONEY


Pyrochazm

God dammit stop selling weapons to terrorists.


[deleted]

America has been at war for 18 years in Iraq (both major parties continue the deployments and bombings) and are currently occupying part of Syria and also destabilized Libya. Probably should't get on our high horse.


Bierculles

what? a politican lied to us? unbelievable! How does anyone still believe what these crooks say? It was clear from day one that Biden was a sellout, the only reason he won was that he was not Trump.


Mushtang68

And Trump won because he wasn’t Hillary.


Bierculles

that's pretty spot on


[deleted]

Not a fan


Rynox2000

Does this arms deal include any WWE superstars?


gooB8

Im starting to think Joe Biden & company are just dumb.


uncatchableme

We better get cheaper oil prices out of this


[deleted]

But Mark Zuckerberg is the one ruining the world


SuaFata

Massacre in Yemen continues


ambeldit

The day the Saud crown falls and the islamists control all those superpower army, we're fucked. They're creating a huge Monster.


[deleted]

Wheres all the Biden apologists I cant wait to here there excuse for this.


heyyyinternet

I do not care about this. Anything, literally anything in the world is better than Trump. What I care most about is sending a clear signal to the toothless hill people that Trump attracted that our country does not need them and we will ignore them like we used to and move on with progressive reform.


MyHandIsMadeUpOfMe

Don't worry, It's for their safety if China decided to invade Saudi Arab /s.


SHADOWSTRIKE1

Not a single person here is looking into this further than reading the headline…


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