Trump, the Incomparable Arms Salesman
A series of three articles after the U.S. military killed Iraqi general Qassem Soleimani on January 3. These articles were first published by www.theglobalist.com.
Right after Iran’s Soleimani was killed, the Saudis arrived at the White House.
By Frank Vogl, January 21, 2020 theglobalist.com
President Trump loves to sell U.S. arms and his favorite customer is Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
After the U.S. military killed Iraqi general Qassem Soleimani on January 3, Trump went into full arms sales mode. To him, that was obviously more important than conferring with NATO allies, or members of the Congress.
No sooner had international security tensions soared, than a visit was swiftly arranged for MBS’s brother, Vice Minister of Defense Khalid bin Salman Khalid, to visit Washington on January 6 and 7. He met with the U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense as well as with Trump at the White House.
The Saudis’ off-the-books meetings
Stunningly, the meetings were first publicly disclosed by the Saudis, and were not — and have not — been recorded on the official White House website.
When Trump did acknowledge that he met with the Saudi Vice Defense Minister, he announced in his usual upbeat fashion in such situations — no doubt with the cash register in his mind ringing loudly — on Twitter: “Had a very good meeting with @kbsalsaud of Saudi Arabia. We discussed Trade, Military, Oil Prices, Security, and Stability in the Middle East!” (2.05p.m., January 7, 2020).
Adding more (military) fuel to the fire
The Middle Eastern powder keg is about to become still more explosive. No region of the world imports such a large volume of weapons and the Saudis are huge buyers.
Total Saudi military spending in 2018 was $67 billion, accounting for the third-biggest level of arms spending in the world, behind the U.S. and China, but slightly ahead of Russia.
The new security tensions following the Soleimani assassination will likely ratchet up the stockpiles of arms in the region. The governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are not only boosting their arms imports but are also accelerating their plans to build their own large arms-manufacturing factories.
U.S.-Saudi deals
The United States is the largest arms supplier and Trump is the top salesman. “President Trump and King Salman Sign Arms Deal,” ran the headline on the White House official website in May 2017 as Trump made his first overseas trip as president.
The statement highlighted the fact that “President Trump and King Salman participated in the signing ceremony for almost $110 billion worth of defense capabilities.”
Sidestepping Congressional restrictions
In May 2019, Donald Trump sidestepped Congressional restrictions on some arms sales. He did so by declaring a national emergency regarding Iran as the means for approving $8 billion in sales of U.S. precision-guided munitions and other weapons.
Now, unquestionably, Trump will be stressing that a new Iran-related national emergency has erupted and shipments of U.S. arms to U.S. allies in the Gulf are a vital priority.
No doubt, the salesmen for Lockheed, Raytheon, Boeing and other U.S. arms manufacturers are engaged in new negotiations in the region.
Bribery: The Driving Force Behind Middle Eastern Arms Sales
Corruption runs rampant in U.S. arms deals in the Middle East.
By Frank Vogl, January 22, 2020 - first published by theglobalist.com
We will never know the full details of all the Middle Eastern arms deals. They could well be rife with kick-backs and bribes to agents working for the Saudis and others. Our ignorance is the product of the total secrecy that governments in the region insist upon in all aspects of military procurement. The Saudi government prevents any form of external monitoring of arms contracts. The U.S. government could be more forceful in insisting on external inspections and transparency — it is not, it just wants to export arms.
Saudi kick-backs galore
The corrupt activity may center on the “offset” agreements that the Saudis and the UAE insist be part of all major arms deals. These are side-arrangements that may not be related to the military sector at all. Instead, they often provide funds for business sectors selected by the Saudi and UAE governments.
These deal-sweeteners can be very large, “worth a third (in the case of Saudi Arabia) to almost two-thirds (in the case of UAE) of the defense contract itself,” according to a new report by scholar Jodi Vittori for Transparency International (TI). The report provides examples from some years back, such as a $5 billion Mc Donnell Douglas sale to the Saudis where one of the offset agreements involved establishing a factory to refine oils into shampoo and paint. And, on another deal highlighted in the report, French arms manufacturers set-up a joint venture with a Saudi firm selected by the government to build greenhouses for fresh flowers.U.S. companies assert that they are sensitive to being in compliance with U.S. laws that criminalize bribes to foreign government officials.
But, the intricacies of the offset deals are often directed by the Saudis, with some ventures involving senior defense officials, or new ventures where control is with a Saudi partner or Saudi agents — and no doubt commissions — to finalize arrangements.
Trump: Triumph of the mercenary mindset
There appears to be no global security or geo-political strategy behind Trump’s embrace of the Saudis. The only motivation seems to be the desire to sell more and more U.S. arms.No wonder that Mr. Trump has brushed aside all human rights concerns that came into sharp focus with the Saudi killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.No wonder either that Mr. Trump and the Saudis must be very happy that the Soleimani killing has put public attention in the United States almost completely on Iran, the Saudis’ nemesis.
Owing to his completely mercenary mindset, Donald Trump seems completely oblivious to the mounting risks of placing the most sophisticated U.S. weapons systems in Saudi hands.
US Tech Transfer:
First to China, Now to the Middle East
The shortsightedness of the United States in allowing arms production facilities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE is unbelievable.
By Frank Vogl and Stephan Richter, January 20, 2020
- first published by theglobalist.com
One of the world’s gravest long-term security risks may involve the transfer of know-how related to sophisticated weapons systems to the Saudis and the UAE. The Soleimani assassination has made that prospect that much more likely.
Geopolitical idiocy
That such an approach is completely irresponsible in a geopolitical context should be clear to everyone. It used to be said that the last thing the Middle East needs is more weapons.
What the Middle East needs even less is its own arms production facilities. While Western arms sales/transfer regimes are already full of holes, this “localizing” approach would make the idea of arms control obsolete. There is bound to be an even merrier bazaar of local producers selling arms to their “friends.”
At a time when all of Washington, on a rare bipartisan basis, is so concerned with China having stolen intellectual property from the United States, the very idea of major U.S. manufacturers transferring arms production facilities to the Middle East is just about the last thing the world needs.
Count on Washington and the United States only to wake up to that reality in customary fashion – when it is too late.
Saudi and UAE arms factories
Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest arms exporter, Boeing and Raytheon are among the leading U.S. companies approved by the U.S. government to export equipment and knowledge to enable the Saudis to build their domestic arms manufacturing capacity.
As these buyers develop their own factories, Saudi Arabia and the UAE will not only become less dependent on the United States but t. They will also be able to export weapons to anyone they like.
The U.S. Congressional Research Service noted in a 2017 report that the UAE established the Emirates Defense Industries Company (EDIC) in 2014.
It has signed contracts with foreign customers, including Algeria, Russia, Kuwait, Libya and Saudi Arabia. For example, UAE equipment, including locally made armored vehicles, assault rifles, and personnel carriers, has figured prominently in the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen.
As scholar Jodi Vittori lays out in her new landmark report for Transparency International (A Mutual Extortion Racket: The Military Industrial Complex and US Foreign Policy – The Cases of Saudi Arabia & UAE):
In May 2017, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman announced the creation of the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) company, designed to manufacture various missiles, weapons and electronics systems based on U.S. designs. SAMI is important for MBS’s goal of seeing half of overall domestic military spending be domestic by 2030.
Conclusion
In a way, what’s happening here is eerily reminiscent of the U.S approach to commerce with China. In the effort to gain (or maintain) market share, U.S. corporations in the past have proven all too willing to transfer high technology to the Chinese.
Nobody can be seriously surprised that the Chinese used that know-how — partially transferred, partially stolen — to seek and replace U.S. firms not only in the Chinese market, but in markets around the globe.
What one must be surprised by is how naively and irresponsibly the U.S. government is now repeating that same mistake now in the Gulf region. The only motivation seems to be the desire to sell more and more U.S. arms.