To wage war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is using F-15 fighter jets bought fromBoeing. Pilots from the United Arab Emirates are flying Lockheed Martin’s F-16 to bomb both Yemen and Syria. Soon, the Emirates are expected to complete a deal with General Atomics for a fleet of Predator drones to run spying missions in their neighborhood.
.. Saudi Arabia spent more than $80 billion on weaponry last year — the most ever, and more than either France or Britain — and has become the world’s fourth-largest defense market, according to figures released last week by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks global military spending. The Emirates spent nearly $23 billion last year, more than three times what they spent in 2006.
.. American intelligence agencies believe that the proxy wars in the Middle East could last for years, which will make countries in the region even more eager for the F-35 fighter jet, considered to be the jewel of America’s future arsenal of weapons.
.. “A good number of the American arms that have been used in Yemen by the Saudis have been used against civilian populations,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, an assertion that Saudi Arabia denies.
Military Contractors had over 900 Lobyists in 2012
Since 1990, the defense industry has contributed more than $200 million to political campaigns, and in 2012 alone, it spent roughly $132 million on more than 900 lobbyists.” Over the past 10 years, from 2005 to 2015, the defense industry spent $1.319 billion on lobbying.
Lt General Mike Flynn on Limits of Military and Energy Motivation
Lt General Mike Flynn: The chain that kept us tied to the middle east is breaking because we will get to energy independence (although we still need to be present). (29 min remaining)
They our out to destroy our way of life (25 min remaining)
Bin laden’s idea wasn’t to defeat the US militarily, but rather economically.
We can’t defeat radical Islam with just the military.
We’re facing a lot of population growth in places where there is not a lot of good governance. In 15-20 years Nigeria will have a higher population than the US.
After Scandal, Petraeus Stays Under Radar, but Not Out of the Spotlight
So the first time he met there with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, he made a joke to dispel fears that the United States had designs on the region’s oil.
“We could have bought all the oil in the region for 100 years for what we’ve spent in Iraq!” the general said.
.. Today, General Petraeus is Citizen Petraeus, a new partner in KKR & Company, a New York private equity firm. Last month he was back in Kazakhstan, this time courting the business elite at Nazarbayev University, founded by the Kazakh leader.
.. he told CBS’s Bob Schieffer that his KKR job was “like being director of the C.I.A. for a global financial firm, with a lot smaller staff.”
.. But private equity experts said his real value was his Rolodex.
.. Since then, Mr. Petraeus has sought to carve out a new voice for himself as an expert on North America and energy, which has formed the backbone of his work at KKR, in academia and as a paid public speaker.
.. C.U.N.Y. students know “Professor Petraeus” as a tough editor. He requires papers to be written in the style of memos to a White House chief of staff, conducts mock congressional hearings on issues and hands out copies of “The Elements of Style,” by Strunk and White, on the first day of class.