bombs, missiles, and Apaches for KSA and other ME ‘partners in peace’: Updated

Submitted by wendy davis on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 11:32am

an alarming update here.

‘US green lights sale of 3,000 bombs worth $290 million to Saudi Arabia & flurry of other Middle East arms deals’, 29 Dec, 2020, RT.com (the accompanying photo: ‘Fire and smoke billow from an army weapons depot after it was hit by a Saudi air strike in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa’

“The US State Department has approved the possible sale of 3,000 precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, alongside more than $4 billion in arms transfers to other regional states, arguing the deals support “national security.”

The munition sale to Saudi Arabia was authorized by the State Department on Tuesday, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notice, giving the go-ahead for a transfer of 3,000 GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs to the Gulf monarchy, worth some $290 million.

The DSCA said the proposed sale would “support US foreign policy and national security objectives” by improving the security of a “friendly country” that promotes “stability” in the Middle East.

The possible deal comes less than a week after the State Department notified Congress that it would issue a license for the sale of 7,500 air-to-ground munitions to the tune of $478 million, allowing Raytheon to directly sell the missiles to the Saudi government.” […]

“The Barack Obama administration – under which Biden served as Vice President – approved billions of dollars in arms deals to the kingdom during its two terms, more than any previous president, according to Reuters, while Biden’s nominee for defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, has been on Raytheon’s board of directors since 2016.”

Or: ‘hand meet glove’?

Now UPI has a different, far more plausible slant: ‘State Dept. approves $300M bomb sale to Saudi Arabia’, Dec. 29, 2020, UPI.com

“The State Department said the munitions will increase Saudi Arabia’s stock of long-range, precision air-to-ground munitions that will improve the nation’s “capability to meet current and future threats.” […]

“President Donald Trump has sought to strengthen ties with Saudi Arabia as the kingdom implements new domestic and foreign policies, and last year he deployed additional troops and military equipment to the country amid an increase in attacks the United States blamed on Iran that targeted the kingdom, according to the Congressional Research Service.

In October, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States plans to sell arms to Saudi Arabia to combat Iranian aggression in the region.

Last week, The Washington Post, Bloomberg and The Hill reported citing unnamed sources that State Department officials have notified Congress of its intent to sell Saudi Arabia 7,500 Paveway air-to-ground so-called smart bombs for nearly $500 billion.” […]

“The Trump administration on Tuesday also approved a possible arms deal with Egypt worth $104 million and two possible deals worth $4.2 billion with Kuwait.”

RT.com has it this way:

“Along with the $290 million munitions deal approved on Tuesday, the State Department also gave the green light for a spate of other high-ticket arms sales to neighboring countries, including two transfers to Kuwait worth $4.2 billion for a bevy of Apache attack helicopters and spare missile parts, as well as some $170 million in aircraft components to Egypt. Those sales come amid a surge in weapons deals as the Trump administration enters its final months, authorizing a $23 billion package to the United Arab Emirates and a series of transfers to Taiwan priced at over $22 billion and counting, among others.”

Let’s go see what Mafia Don Pompeo’s up to on Twitter:

breath-taking agitprop:

(cross-posted from Café Babylon)

Tags: 
empire and war crimes
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Submitted by doh1304 on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 12:11pm

What do Iran and Sudan have in common? They both sell oil to the Chinese. We are selling weapons to the Saudis hoping that they'll use them against Iran, and giving weapons to the north Sudanese so that they will kill more south Sudanese and sell more oil to the Chinese. Another country that sells oil to China - Venezuela. What are we doing?

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—

On to Biden since 1973

Submitted by wendy davis on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 5:22pm
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@doh1304

about the split of south sudan from north (even after reading several of my old diaries), but susan rice, USAID (a CIA cur-out), obomba, the african union, and george clooney (CFR) all had a hand in it. i hadn't know that the US is arming sudan, but given that video it's likely, isn't it?

now i don't know if china sells Oil to VZ, but they have sent any numbers of gasoline to VZ, a number of which the US navy has boarded, towed to ports, and sold the purloined oil.

i'd imagine these sales were were also at the behest of israel, an undeclared nuclear power w/ a guesstimated 100 nukes. but not only is oil key, but the sunni-shi'a divide again: iran is shia, bahrain is 85% shi'a ruled by 15% sunni, home of the US navy's 5th fleet, UAE 85% sunni (salafist), and i'd had to look up morocco: largely sunni. what a bloody history!

such a peace deal the abraham accords are, Donald! or rather: Guaranteed Wars?

what are we doing?

Playing with fire, unable to cede to a multipolar world, of course. someone will stop the US eventually, but only if they can...and must.

as a side note, i'd been reading an email from the CFR this a.m., and got bogged down in the sections answering theQ: can biden live in a multipolar world, and esp. the section full of lies on Iran.

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Submitted by aliasalias on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 6:24pm

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Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/31/2020 - 10:33am
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@aliasalias

sorry for missing this last night. but the stakes w/ iran couldn't be much higher, including any of a number of 'miscalculations', false flags, etc. that could unleash WIII (maybe a bit over the top, maybe not.)

we've been watching DVDs of old teevee series, both amerikan and british, and the Evil genocidal, lawlwss, and corrupt Regimes are always: Iran, Russia, China, and VZ.

@SecPompeo US government account

The U.S. has designated the members of the illegitimate Maduro regime who unjustly tried and convicted the Citgo 6 in Venezuela. Reports of the proceedings depict only theater for Maduro’s political purposes, not justice.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Wed, 12/30/2020 - 9:15pm
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tonight's closing song is dedicated to the Western Imperial hegemon's 'shiny apple'. seeking to control the planet...without sharing influence, maybe even cooperation. i'm not saying they believe they have souls or even inner lives.

amerika: the largest terrorist organiztion on this dark little planet.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QwvqKMXhL8]

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Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/31/2020 - 8:22am
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‘B-52s fly over Persian Gulf as Washington escalates war threat against Iran’,
Bill Van Auken, wsws.org, 10 hours ago

'For the third time in little more than a month, the Pentagon has sent a pair of B-52 Stratofortress long-range heavy bombers to the Persian Gulf in a threat of war against Iran. This threat is being steadily escalated on the orders of US President Donald Trump as he continues to demand the overturning of the results of November’s US presidential election.

The warplanes, which are capable of launching both nuclear and conventional weapons, flew low over the Gulf after a midair refueling over the Eastern Mediterranean in a 30-hour round-trip flight from their base in North Dakota. They were escorted by a squadron of F-16 fighter planes. [...]

The B-52 flights are only part of a continuous and ominous US military buildup in the region. Last week, the Navy sent the nuclear-powered submarine USS Georgia, armed with cruise missiles, along with accompanying warships, into the Persian Gulf, joining the USS Nimitz carrier strike group already deployed there.

The Israeli and other Middle Eastern media have also revealed that Israel has dispatched its own submarine through the Suez Canal in an apparent approach to the Persian Gulf. The Dolphin-class submarine is capable of firing nuclear cruise missiles.

Meanwhile Israel has continued its airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria, bombing the Nabi Habil area near Damascus on Wednesday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a “senior US military officer” told the Associated Press that the Pentagon had “picked up signs” that Iran may be “planning for possible rocket attacks against US interests in Iraq” in conjunction with the first anniversary of the criminal US drone missile assassination of senior Iranian leader Qassem Suleimani on January 3, 2020, after he arrived at Baghdad international airport for an official state visit.

The “senior officer” said that Iran “may be considering” broader attacks against US targets in the Middle East, where some 50,000 American troops are deployed, or “might have its eye on economic targets,” invoking the September 2019 attack on Saudi oil-processing facilities, for which Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility. [...]

“Now we hear chatter about additional attacks against Americans in Iraq,” the US president tweeted. “Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over.”

After having murdered Suleimani, and no doubt aided and abetted last month’s Israeli assassination of Iran’s leading nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, while subjecting the Iranian population to a “maximum pressure” campaign of draconian sanctions that has cost many thousands of lives and encircling the country with US military bases, bombers and warships, Washington relentlessly casts Iran as the aggressor.

Trump made clear his desire to attack Iran in a White House meeting with his security cabinet last month in which he floated a proposal for bombing Natanz, Iran’s main nuclear facility, a war crime that could kill thousands while poisoning many more. While senior aides reportedly talked him out of such an attack, military escalation against Iran has continued unabated.

Since then, the White House has sacked acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper, replacing him with ex-special forces colonel Christopher Miller, while conducting a wholesale purge of the Pentagon’s top civilian leadership, installing fanatically anti-Iranian Trump loyalists in key positions.'

meanwhile: 'Trump ‘will go to the dustbin of history’: Iran’s Rouhani sends harsh farewell message to outgoing US president', 31 Dec, 2020, RT.com

'“The enemy’s goal was to break the resistance in the region with the martyrdom of Martyr Soleimani, but it was the other way around and the spirit of resistance in the region boosted,” the president stated, adding that the impending end of Trump’s term in office is likely to bring more stability for the region, as well as the whole world.

bless his heart...

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Submitted by CB on Thu, 12/31/2020 - 3:25pm
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where it's populace dances lockstep to the tune of the (CIA controlled) MSM as much as in the United States of Amnesia.

Here we go again...

America Keeps Claiming Governments It Hates Are Paying Bounties On US Troops In Afghanistan - Caitlin Johnstone
We’re now getting mass media reports that yet another country the US government doesn’t like has been trying to kill American troops in Afghanistan, with the accusation this time being leveled at China. This brings the total number of governments against which this exact accusation has been made to three: China, Iran, and Russia.
...
Three imperialism-targeted nations, same exact accusation. Pretty soon they’ll be telling us that bounties are being paid on US troops in Afghanistan by China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Hezbollah, WikiLeaks, Jimmy Dore, and the entire staff of World Socialist Website.
...

Expecting change with a new government is fruitless. It will make as much difference as changing your underwear.

Fortunately, America is slowly and surely being pushed out of the catbird seat by forces both greater and more intelligent than it. The world is sick and tired of American zero-sum global policy that has allowed it to become the richest nation in the world to the sad detriment of the world's citizens. I expect China, with it's win-win economic policies and focus on poverty alleviation, to take global leadership from the Hegemon within a decade - to the benefit of the world.

I'll leave you with Chinese President Xi Jinping's 2021 New Year address (not so much propaganda as a promise).
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUevNynvlkw]

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Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/31/2020 - 4:32pm
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@CB

'third time's the charm'? and DT's already weighed in.

great comment, this especially:

The world is sick and tired of American zero-sum global policy that has allowed it to become the richest nation in the world to the sad detriment of the world's citizens.

and it's good to know that she sees the possibilities of nuclear war armageddon, too. wish i could afford to watch Xi, but i just can't change it yet. (i'm still healing from my recent Fun with Vertigo.)

but it get worse as to what the largest terrorist organization on the planet will award to vanquish its enemies; i'm about to post what's in the $2.3 trillion omnibus bill.

mucho gracias, amigo. hope you're doing well.

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