arms sales

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Infamous Russian Arms Merchant May Be Back in Business

Wall Street Journal reports Viktor Bout is back to selling arms after prisoner swap

(Newser) - An infamous Russian arms dealer freed in exchange for American Brittney Griner is back to his old tricks less than two years later, reports the Wall Street Journal . The newspaper's exclusive scoop says Viktor Bout—aka, the "merchant of death"—has been personally brokering the sale of...

US Approves $20B in Arms Sales to Israel

New jets won't arrive until end of this decade

(Newser) - The US has approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles, the State Department announced Tuesday. Congress was notified of the impending sale, which includes more than 50 F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or AMRAAMs, 120 mm tank...

Look Out, Russia: There's a New Arms Trade Powerhouse

France is on pace to move into the No. 2 position behind the US

(Newser) - France overtook China as the world's third-largest arms exporter just two years ago. But it could soon be in a position to surmount Russia in the second spot. A report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found France's share of the global arms trade rose from...

Russian, South African Generals Meet After US Arms Accusation

American ambassador had suggested weapons were shipped to aid Ukraine invasion

(Newser) - Russia's top army general and his South African counterpart discussed "military cooperation" while meeting Monday in Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The announcement came hours after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa denied accusations by the US that his country was siding with Russia in the war in...

China Won't Be Pleased With Latest US-Taiwan Deal

US agrees to sell Taiwan $619M in munitions

(Newser) - The US has approved more arms sales to Taiwan, including $619 million worth of munitions for F-16 fighter jets, in a decision likely to be yet another point of friction between the US and China, which claims the island as its own territory. The State Department said in a statement...

Sanders Tries to Hold Up Arms Sale to Israel

Senator wants a debate, at least, before the deal goes through

(Newser) - On the same day that a cease-fire was announced in the Middle East, Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution to block a $735 million arms sale to Israel. "At a moment when US-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms...

Senate Bucks Trump on Saudi Arms Sales

However, the margin isn't big enough to override an expected veto

(Newser) - The Senate officially isn't happy with President Trump's planned arms sales to Saudi Arabia, but not by a big enough margin to overcome an expected veto. Seven Republican senators joined Democrats in voting 53-45 on two resolutions to disapprove of the sales, reports the Hill . They were Susan...

Report: Trump Considering Loophole for Saudi Arms Sale

Emergency declaration would bypass Congress

(Newser) - The Trump administration is considering an emergency declaration that would allow it to make an arms shipment to Saudi Arabia without the approval of Congress, two US officials and lawmakers opposed to the move said Thursday. The officials say a decision on invoking a national security waiver in the Arms...

Report: US Heard of Plan to Lure Missing Journalist

As Trump says halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia 'would be hurting us'

(Newser) - A new twist in the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi : American officials knew months ago that Saudi Arabia was plotting against the journalist, sources tell the Washington Post . The sources say US intelligence intercepts discovered a plan to lure Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi monarchy, back to the kingdom from...

The US Makes Billions Selling Weapons to Nearly 100 Countries

Weapons are the global business, and business is booming

(Newser) - The global weapons trade is booming, Vice reports, citing numbers from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute that show it grew 14% between 2011 and 2015. That's not surprising—between "tensions in Asia" and a "state of total melt-down" in the Middle East, according to the BBC...

Iran, N. Korea, Syria Block UN Arms Trade Treaty

Other countries to keep pushing for pact

(Newser) - Iran, North Korea, and Syria blocked adoption of a UN treaty that would regulate the multibillion-dollar international arms trade for the first time, saying it fails to ban sales to terrorists, but other countries refused to let the treaty die. The treaty's adoption required agreement by all 193 UN...

Iraq Cancels $4.2B Arms Deal With Russia

It would have made Moscow the nation's No. 2 supplier

(Newser) - Nouri al-Maliki seems to have had a very expensive change of heart, at least for Russia. The Iraqi prime minister abruptly canceled a $4.2 billion arms deal agreed to last month that would have made Moscow the nation's No. 2 arms supplier behind the US, reports AFP . A...

CIA Op Jailed for Libya Arms Sales Dies at 84

Edwin Wilson overturned conviction 20 years later

(Newser) - Edwin Wilson set up front companies abroad for the CIA, made millions in the arms trade and entertained generals and congressmen at his sprawling Virginia farm. His high-powered, jet-setting life in the 1970s and early 1980s followed a career in the CIA. But it came crashing down when he was...

US Arms Sales Hog 75% of Global Market

Washington's overseas sales tripled last year

(Newser) - America's weapon sales abroad last year skyrocketed to $66.3 billion, triple the 2010 figure of $21.4 billion, according to a nonpartisan report. US sales accounted for more than three-quarters of the $85.3 billion market and marked a record high for sales in a year, blowing away...

Russians Hawk Jets to Syria Regime

Even as US senators propose tougher sanctions

(Newser) - Russia is so unconcerned with the international outcry against Syria that it has reached a deal to sell Bashar al-Assad's regime three dozen Yak-130 fighter jets, a Syrian business newspaper reported today. The twin-engined jet is capable of attacking ground targets, the AP reports. Experts say the contract, which...

Bahrain Getting Its Tear Gas From...

...Britain, and some politicians aren't happy about that

(Newser) - Some politicians in the UK aren't happy about the "Made in Britain" labels on the tear gas, smoke canisters, and stun grenades being used to crush protests in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Arab world, the Independent reports. The British government approved the export of large amounts of crowd-control...

Obama to Turkey: Shape Up or No Weapons Deal

US unhappy with its stance on Iran, Israel

(Newser) - If Turkey wants to buy US weapons, it needs to change its tune on Iran and Israel, President Obama told Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At issue: Turkey voted against UN sanctions on Iran in June and spoke out against the Israeli raid that killed nine Turks on a flotilla...

EU Sold Millions in Weapons to Sri Lankan Army

European arms may have been used in civil war atrocities

(Newser) - European Union nations sold millions of dollars worth of arms and military equipment to the Sri Lankan army in the final stages of its 26-year civil war, in which the army has been accused of atrocities. The UK sold the country $22.3 million in armored vehicles and weapons, though...

Pentagon to Add 20K Jobs in Arms-Buying Overhaul

Obama says acquisitions program has 'run amok'

(Newser) - The Defense Department will add 20,000 jobs over the next 5 years in an overhaul of its $100 billion weapons-buying process, Reuters reports. New regulations will tie compensation more closely to performance, and the Pentagon will require “real, substantial” tax savings in any multiyear deals, a deputy defense...

Pentagon Seeks $15.2B Fighter Sale to Israel

US maker Lockheed Martin still developing next-generation jet

(Newser) - The Defense Department said today it wants to sell up to 75 fighter jets to Israel in a $15.2 billion deal for the aircraft expected to be the mainstay of air power in the US and several other nations for decades. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it notified...

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