Biden Sells Weapons to 57% of Dictators Around the World

[Guest Tobia]

Very interesting report by the Intercept.

Mr Biden condescendigly and paternalistically lectures the whole world about "Democracy" while simultaneously arming the most brutal and authoritarian regimes around the world.

https://theintercept.com/2023/05/11/united-states-foreign-weapons-sales/

 

[integral]

Lord of War? 

[Jodistrict]

That is because perpetual war is the establishment position.  The foreign policy of the Republicans and Democrats is the same.   Biden is no different than Obama, Clinton, Bush, etc.  They all continue hegemonic policies.  

[LSD-Rumi]

@Tobia Lol, there is a difference between a king and a dictator. Of course it will sell weapons to authoritarians, these countries need weapons to defend themselves against other countries, dah. Also, it makes a very huge portion of The Us economy. If they don't buy weapons from the US they will buy them from Russia.

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by LSD-Rumi

[Leo Gura]

What is foolish is expecting to impose your political system and values on other regions of the world where such a system would be totally unworkable and counter-productive. The world is too complex to only be friends with democracies.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

40 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

What is foolish is expecting to impose your political system and values on other regions of the world where such a system would be totally unworkable and counter-productive. The world is too complex to only be friends with democracies.

But why has the US government always provided military support to tyrannical regimes in third world countries instead of to possible resistance or revolutionary groups in those countries who would be able to have enough power to overthrow their authoritarian leaders? After all, hasn't the US been constantly trying to promote democracy, freedom, individual rights, and equality around the world?

Edited May 20, 2023 by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

4 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

instead of to possible resistance or revolutionary groups

Because those revolutionary groups are bad for business. And also most of those groups don't know jack about governing a country.

The US doesn't support democracy, what the US supports is economic prosperity, especially in its own favor.

Biden sells weapons to bad people in order to keep shit at Walmart cheap for you.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

4 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Because those revolutionary groups are bad for business. And also most of those groups don't know jack about governing a country.

The US doesn't support democracy, what the US supports is economic prosperity.

What about all of this talk that every US president, government official, mainstream pundit, etc. have been saying about spreading democracy and western values all over the planet? Isn't that why also NATO keeps expanding?

Bush said that one reason we were nation building in Afghanistan was to establish democracy there, including women's rights. Obama apparently agreed with that too for a while.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

5 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

What about all of this talk that every US president, government official, mainstream pundit, etc. have been saying about spreading democracy and western values all over the planet?

It's mostly BS. What they mean is spreading economic benefit to the US.

But in plenty of cases democracy does benefit the US. Democratic countries are better for business because they are more advanced and also less hostile. No one really wants to deal with a dictator if they can avoid it.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

4 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

It's mostly BS. What they mean is spreading economic benefit to the US.

So, Americans like Clinton, Bush 1, Bush 2, Obama, and Biden never really cared about developing democracy in other countries?

Edited May 20, 2023 by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

2 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

So, Americans like Clinton, Bush 1, Bush 2, Obama, and Biden never really cared about developing democracy in other countries?

They cared, because it benefits the US economic agenda.

[Hardkill]

8 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

They cared, because it benefits the US economic agenda.

Bush said that "it breaks my heart that women in Afghanistan are going to be brutalize by the Taliban" when we withdraw from Afghanistan. 

But you're saying that he never really cared at all about women's rights and freedoms there. 

Well, I didn't realize how much more narcissistic or perhaps even sociopath many of our politicians are, even beside Trump, than I realized.

I also had no idea that our military industrial complex has always been such a cold hearted machine. Eisenhower, in his 1961 farewell speech, was right when he warned all of us of the potential dangers of this issue.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

7 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

Bush said that "it breaks my heart that women in Afghanistan are going to be brutalize by the Taliban" when we withdraw from Afghanistan.

Look dude, obviously it's complicated. Of course an American will naturally empathize with stuff like slavery or abuse that happens overseas in backwards shithole countries. No American politician wants to support a medieval foreign country if they can avoid it.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

1 minute ago, Leo Gura said:

Look dude, obviously it's complicated. Of course an American will naturally empathize with stuff like slavery or abuse that happens overseas in backwards shithole countries. No American politician wants to support a medieval foreign country if they can avoid it.

Hmm...Well, do western European countries, Canada, Australia, and every other developed country in the world also sell arms to authoritarian regimes in third world countries in order to support and grow each of their own economies?

[Leo Gura]

6 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

Hmm...Well, do western European countries, Canada, Australia, and every other developed country in the world also sell arms to authoritarian regimes in third world countries in order to support and grow each of their own economies?

Probably.

Many of those countries don't have great weapon tech to sell. You can't sell what you don't got. I don't know what kind of weapons Australia makes. But I'm sure they make something.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

31 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Probably.

Many of those countries don't have great weapon tech to sell. You can't sell what you don't got. I don't know what kind of weapons Australia makes. But I'm sure they make something.

Actually, I just found a source that does mention the fact that other developed countries besides ours also sell weapons to 2nd and 3rd world countries such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, North Africa, and more.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2021/07/23/are-european-arms-fuelling-wars-and-conflicts-worldwide

So, I guess the valid point you're making is that given the world we still live in, even 1st world countries still cannot afford to not manufacture and sell much of their weapons to those primitive countries because global arms trade without much restrictions on doing business with 3rd world countries is still needed to sufficiently support and grow all 1st world countries.

Though, I am sure that America sell significantly more arms to all other countries around the world than other developed countries do because as you're implying, the US is and has always been since the end of WWII, the number country for developing the best and most prolific military technology and weaponry in the world. Plus, America is still the most capitalistic, and therefore the greediest 1st world economy in the world.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Hardkill

[integral]

Wouldn't it be more advantages to control the production and sale of weaponry for the entire world? Causing country's research and development projects to atrophy and creating 100% dependents on the US. Great strategy. If you want to beat them, create a drug dependence. 

Edited May 20, 2023 by integral

[Jodistrict]

In 1953, Jacobo Arbenz become president of a democratically elected government in Guatemala.   He was enacting a major land reform program.  At the promoting of the United Fruit Company, he was removed from power by the CIA and a military junta put in his place.  This is when Che Guevara decided to become a revolutionary.    For him it was  proof that meaningful reform could never be accomplished by a democratic system, because if a reformer were elected he would just be removed by the imperialist power.  So, revolution was the only moral course to take. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara
 

[Danioover9000]

@Tobia

On 2023-05-18 at 0:36 PM, Tobia said:

Very interesting report by the Intercept.

Mr Biden condescendigly and paternalistically lectures the whole world about "Democracy" while simultaneously arming the most brutal and authoritarian regimes around the world.

https://theintercept.com/2023/05/11/united-states-foreign-weapons-sales/

 

   Who is Mr. Biden, and what social role? Joe Biden, a person who's a politician of the democratic corporate, maybe liberal. So, what does a politician do as their main purpose? Mostly white lie, lie strategically and sometimes obviously, as that's part of their role in society, lie a lot in clever ways. Why is lying part of being a Politician? Because of other politicians in the political field, as well as SELFISHNESS and dealing with limited resources within this field, and lying tends to reward the better liar with better access and leverage of more powerful groups within a limited playing field.

   So, given what I've listed, why do you consider Mr. Biden's lectures to most of the world's societies about 'democracy' whilst selling arms to the 'most brutal' and authoritarian regimes around the world as a bad thing? Especially also given other developmental factors like SD stages of development, cognitive and moral development, personality types/traits, ego development and shadow aspects of the psyche, life experiences and other lines of development and constraints from personal life to societal domains, and ideological indoctrination, and self biases and preferences, wouldn't the answer be obvious to you?