[Aljazeera] Saudi Arabia became the world's largest arms importer from 2014 to 2018, accounting for 12 percent of the imports, an increase of 192 percent over 2009-2013, according to the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
According to data for 2018, the United States continued to supply the bulk of arms to Saudi Arabia, accounting for 88 percent of all arms sold to the country.
Between 2014 and 2018, Saudi Arabia received 22 percent of the US's arms exports, a sharp increase from 4.9 percent from 2009 to 2013.
The data includes major arms, such as armoured vehicles, guided missiles, aircraft, artillery and ships.
Arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia in 2014-2018 included 56 combat aircraft from the US and 38 from the United Kingdom, according to the report. In both cases, the aircraft were equipped with cruise missiles and other guided weapons.
Planned deliveries for 2019-2023 include 98 combat aircraft, seven missile defence systems and 83 tanks from the US, 737 armoured vehicles from Canada, five frigates from Spain and short-range ballistic missiles from Ukraine, according to SIPRI.
The report noted that arms flows to the Middle East have surged, almost doubling in the past five years.
Four of the world's top 10 arms-importing countries in 2014-2018 were in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, which received 33 percent of arms transfers to the region, Egypt at 15 percent, the United Arab Emirates 11 percent and Iraq 11 percent.
Shown below are the countries that export the most major weapons to Saudi Arabia.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For some U.S. officials, the Trump administration’s failure to persuade Turkey not to buy a Russian air defense system may have its roots in a coup attempt against President Tayyip Erdogan three years ago this week.
While they recognize that worsening U.S. relations with Turkey in recent years and Russia’s growing clout with Ankara may also have helped sway Turkey toward buying the S-400 system, three U.S. officials and a defense source told Reuters of another working theory that has gained ground within the Trump administration.
One reason Erdogan may have chosen to buy from Russia rather than from a fellow NATO member is that he might be wary of his own air force, which played a major role in the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, these officials say.
S-400 missiles, which Turkey began taking delivery of last Friday, would be better at fending off any attack on the Turkish government from its own jets than a U.S.-supplied Patriot system would, experts say.
Raytheon Co’s’s Patriot missiles, which have been on offer to Turkey, would have safeguards to help avoid "friendly fire" against other NATO warplanes, such as Turkish air force jets.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
07/18/2019 03:15 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
One reason Erdogan may have chosen to buy from Russia rather than from a fellow NATO member is that he might be wary of his own air force, which played a major role in the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, these officials say.
[The Federalist] The mood of left-wing Democrats might be neatly summarized by the media coverage of last weekend’s Netroots Nation conference. The progressive left seems poised to consign former President Barack Obama to the dustbin of history. Moreover, supposedly woke agitators do not seem to care how their exercise might affect black voters who comprise a crucial part of their 2020 electoral strategy.
According to Vox, "Progressive activists know their enemy in the 2020 Democratic primary: Joe Biden." As Vox notes, "Some activists at Netroots conceded they would support Biden in a general election if they had no other choice."
Dean Obeidallah of CNN and The Daily Beast finds this concession a sign of a pragmatism that should make President Donald Trump quake with fear, as opposed to the rock-bottom minimum expectation for a group that claims to believe the president is an existential threat to the republic. Not unlike the Hollywood types who take private jets to climate change conferences, the gap between rhetoric and action is considerable.
#1
Progressives can almost taste victory, but the manner in which they dismiss major blocs of the Democratic coalition remains as big an obstacle to their success as their extreme platform.
Maybe they expect the capture the NeverTrumpers.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/18/2019 8:22 Comments ||
Top||
#2
As Vox notes, "Some activists at Netroots conceded they would support Biden in a general election if they had no other choice."
But unenthusiastically
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2019 8:42 Comments ||
Top||
#3
groundbreaking hasn't happened yet on the Obama Presidential Center
they have a lot of fundraising yet to do
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/18/2019 9:56 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Could levy a 10% tax on all the choom sold in the state to go towards the narcissist's book-free library/house of mirrors.
#6
I like the idea of his wikipedia entry saying he is the only modern president without a library. I like that idea a lot.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/18/2019 12:37 Comments ||
Top||
#7
This is a surprise to me. I mean, after you get to full on freaking Bolshevik, how much further left can you get?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/18/2019 13:18 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Remember that the useful idiots are cast aside rather quickly. The real challenge that Justice fascists are going to run into is that the right side political party will not go quietly, and all the rhetoric of being bigots and haters is falling on the same deaf ears as the Deplorable comments. The big push into socialism is about to be on us.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/18/2019 13:32 Comments ||
Top||
#9
They certainly didn't even thank him for paving the way.
#10
The big push into socialism is about to be on us.
Keep the firearms clean and oiled up with a good supply of ammo.
Socialism has done very little to advance and better people in this world. Those at the top dispatch with their enemies and steal all the money and leave the country gutted. Those Progressives who embrace socialism do little for progress. There is little difference between socialists and fascists; two sides of the same coin. Socialists are internationalists and fascists tend to be nationalists. Both are statists and totalitarian and against individual freedoms.
[Babylon Bee] NEW YORK, NY‐Planned Parenthood fired Leana Wen this week, stating that the former president had regularly failed to hit her monthly goals in regards to the number of babies killed by the organization.
According to internal memos, Wen consistently fell short of killing a sufficient number of babies month after month for the company to hit its financial goals. When she was hired last year, she was given a quota of how many lives she was supposed to snuff out every month, quarter, and fiscal year. While Wen did oversee thousands upon thousands of deaths, it wasn't enough for Planned Parenthood.
"Sorry, we were just looking for someone a little more murderous," a Planned Parenthood board member told Wen after informing her of her forced departure. "We're ending your term with the company just short of nine months. We wish you the best in whatever immoral job you take on next."
The company has reportedly tapped Thanos the Mad Titan as interim president as it searches for someone who can get the job done.
[Washington Examiner] Attorney Joe diGenova amplified a conspiracy theory about special counsel Robert Mueller during an interview Wednesday on Fox Business.
On Lou Dobbs Tonight, diGenova, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, referred to an interview Mueller had with President Trump in May 2017 about taking over as FBI director after James Comey was fired.
"Something very interesting that hasn't been written about occurred," diGenova told guest host Gregg Jarrett. "Bob Mueller went into that meeting with [Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosenstein, and it was just three of them in the Oval Office, and Bob Mueller had a telephone, a cellphone," diGenova told Jarrett.
"He left that cellphone in Oval Office after the meeting. And it is now believed by many people that cellphone was used to broadcast the meeting between the president, Rod Rosenstein, and Bob Mueller, back to FBI headquarters, where they recorded the conversation with the president," diGenova said, before adding that Mueller likely left the phone there to "record what happened after they left."
Talk of Mueller leaving behind his cellphone in the Oval Office began with a book written by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. He only mentions the phone off-hand and makes no assertions about clandestine surveillance.
"Mueller had gone in for an interview with Trump, and left his phone there, and then the phone had to be retrieved," McCabe wrote in The Threat: How the F.B.I. Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.
Speculation about the FBI recording the president has ensued on right-wing blogs and social media and now has been given a voice on cable television. DiGenova's claim was not contested by Jarrett.
[Legal Insurrection] An agitated Elizabeth Warren treated Mark Esper as though he was a corruptocrat-in-waiting, and he was not having it.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has been enjoying a steady rise in presidential polling numbers over the last two months. She also had very impressive numbers for second quarter fundraising, bringing in $19.1 million, coming in third only to Joe Biden and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Perhaps it was the rise in polling numbers, the massive fundraising haul, or both that made Warren feel confidently contemptuous enough to treat Defense Secretary nominee Mark Esper like a corruptocrat-in-waiting during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination on Tuesday. RTWT
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2019 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
A hectoring nag with strong totalitarian impulses who reminds nearly all married men of the mother in law they hate, and has none of Hillary's charm. What's not to like?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
"War is our business, and business is GOOD!" 
[Babylon Bee] NEW YORK, NY‐Planned Parenthood fired Leana Wen this week, stating that the former president had regularly failed to hit her monthly goals in regards to the number of babies killed by the organization.
[Legal Insurrection] An agitated Elizabeth Warren treated Mark Esper as though he was a corruptocrat-in-waiting, and he was not having it.
