UNITED NATIONS, Mar 17 2014 (IPS) – The Middle East continues to be one of the world’s most lucrative arms markets, with two Gulf nations – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – taking the lead, according to a new study released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

During 2009-2013, 22 percent of arms transfers to the region went to the UAE, 20 percent to Saudi Arabia and 15 percent to Turkey.

The United States accounted for 42 percent of total arms supplies to the region, SIPRI said.

The rising arms purchases are attributed to several factors, including perceived threats from Iran, the growing Sunni-Shia sectarian strife, widespread fears of domestic terrorism, political instability and hefty oil incomes.

“I definitely think it is a mixture of all of those factors,” said Nicole Auger, a military analyst covering Middle East/Africa at Forecast International, a U.S.-based defence market research firm.

The Middle East defence market, she told IPS, is growing substantially as a result of civil unrest, international instability – especially between Iran and Gulf States – and higher oil prices.

Toby C. Jones, an associate history professor at Rutgers University, told IPS, “The Gulf is the Eldorado for Western arms merchants and governments that want to recycle some of the wealth generated from oil.”

There is no collection of states on the planet with more money and more enthusiasm for purchasing expensive weapons systems than in the Gulf, he pointed out.

Whatever strategic value these weapons have or do not have, it is important to keep in mind these weapons are mostly useless for “actual” war, which is why the United States continues to keep such a huge military presence in the region, he added.

http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/03/middle-east-sustains-appetite-arms/

Obama administration approves arms shipment to Bahrain

http://blog.amnestyusa.org/middle-east/obama-administration-approves-arms-shipment-to-bahrain/

Arms Sales and the Militarization of the Middle East

Over the last decade, the Middle East has become a focal point of the world arms buildup. Each year, the regional arsenal grows, as the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Britain and others ship billions of dollars worth of weapons to the countries there. During the 1970s, while the world arms trade doubled, Middle East arms imports rose fourfold (in constant dollars). [1] Today, the region receives over half of all arms deliveries to the Third World, and more than a quarter of all world arms shipments.

Among the differences between various estimates of arms sales and militarization indices is the geographical definition of the Middle East. Where possible, we include Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, along with North Africa, Israel, Iran and the Arab East. Many calculations treat Turkey as part of NATO (Europe), Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of South Asia, and Ethiopia and Somalia as part of Africa. Undefined references to the Middle East are thus not always strictly comparable. By our measurement, they tend to understate the amount, value and proportion of weaponry in the region. The general trends, however, are unmistakable by any calculation.

Parallel to the growth of Middle East arms imports is a rapid increase in military expenditures. In less than 20 years, these have grown tenfold in value — from $4.7 billion in 1962 to $46.7 billion in 1980, nearly nine times the world average. When the states of the world are ranked by military spending per capita, six of the top seven are in the Middle East. The top ten countries in terms of military spending per capita are: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Brunei, Kuwait, United States, Soviet Union and France. By the end of the 1970s, the region was spending between 13 and 15 percent of its gross national product for the military, compared with 8.3 percent for the Warsaw Pact countries, the next highest. [2]

The best indicators of the militarization of the region are the time-series estimates of expenditures, equipment and manpower. These are necessarily selective: Medium tanks, for instance, are only the most easily identifiable of many different types or armor/artillery. The aggregate figures do not measure the increase in sophistication of weapons sent to certain countries. Nor do these figures take account of vast differences in qualify of training or the general skill and education level of the society in question. Military expenditures show trends, but are only approximate. Real costs of equipment and personnel vary greatly, in ways that cannot be expressed in exchange rates, and categories for comparison are often difficult to establish. Expenditures also do not include aid from other countries: The spending total for Israel, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and others is actually much higher.

The pattern and trends presented are nevertheless unmistakable and alarming. Military manpower grew by 64 percent from 1972 to 1982, rising from 2.1 million to 3.5 million. If Israel’s battle-ready reserves of some 300,000 are included, the Middle East now has almost twice the total military manpower of the US, and is approaching the 4.7 million total for the US and all NATO countries except Turkey. During the same period, operational combat aircraft in the region grew by more than 50 percent, from 2,900 to 4,400, surpassing the size of the combined European NATO air forces. As for medium tanks, the main battle armor unit, the regional arsenal grew by 140 percent, from 11,250 to 27,000, considerably more than all US and NATO medium tanks combined.

http://www.merip.org/mer/mer112/arms-sales-militarization-middle-east

http://investmentwatchblog.com/obama-and-hillary-sold-and-shipped-muslim-nations-549-billion-dollars-in-guns-and-ammo-in-the-last-7-years-now-they-want-your-guns-anybody-see-a-problem-with-these-satanic-fucks/