CrossTalk: AFRICOM

Militarization of Africa... A geopolitical priority.

Has Africa made it to the list of US geopolitical priorities? Why is the US military expanding its secret intelligence operations in Africa? What is behind the growth of AFRICOM? Why is the US training and equipping militaries in a number of African states? Is it a price to pay for peace and order in Africa? Or is it just about the protection and promotion of American interests at the expense of Africa's search for stability? CrossTalking with Ivan Eland, Peter Pham and James Mittleman on July 9.

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Why Is the U.S. Selling Billions in Weapons to Autocrats?

Why Is the U.S. Selling Billions in Weapons to Autocrats? - By Zach Toombs, R. Jeffrey Smith, and the Center for Public Integrity | Foreign Policy

The export of American arms to countries around the world -- even those actively repressing their own citizens -- is booming.

Three nations with records of suppressing democratic dissent in the last year -- Algeria, Egypt, and Peru -- are listed in the report as recently receiving U.S. firearms, armored vehicles, and items from a category that includes chemical and riot control agents like tear gas. The State Department confirmed that U.S. tear gas was delivered to Egypt up to the end of November, but has declined to confirm it was also sent to Algeria and Peru.

The export of American arms to countries around the world -- what the State Department calls a tangible expression of American "partnership" -- is in fact booming. The commercial arms sales reviewed by the State Department reached $44.28 billion in fiscal year 2011, a $10 billion sales increase since 2010. Next year should see another increase of 70 percent, the department says.

Those sales -- plus the government-to-government arms exports overseen by the Pentagon -- make the United States the world's top provider of major conventional weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Russia, France, and China followed behind. Much of the recent U.S. increase came from vastly expanded sales to Saudi Arabia, Brazil and India.

- By Zach Toombs, R. Jeffrey Smith, and the Center for Public Integrity | Foreign Policy

Asia is World's Top Weapons Importer: SIPRI

Asia is world's top weapon importer: SIPRI - International - World - Ahram Online

'Tunisia, where mass protests ousted strongman Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali early last year, launched the so-called Arab Spring and inspired similar movements in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere.

"During 2011, the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Syria used imported weapons in the suppression of peaceful demonstrations among other alleged violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

"The transfer of arms to states affected by the Arab Spring has provoked public and parliamentary debate in a number of supplier states," the report said.

The volume of deliveries of "major conventional weapons" to African nations increased by a massive 110 per cent in 2007-2011 over the previous five-year period, with deliveries to North Africa up by 273 per cent.'