The International Arms Trade

I read an article in etc magazine (magazine distributed to schools
nationally) and was pleasantly suprised to find that it contained some
pretty openly critical articles and views - not like the usual shit
they send to schools!

Flicking through, I found an article about the international arms deal, and, more specifically, Britain's role in it.

This is my take on the situation.  Britain exports more arms than
any other country except the USA.  Basically, we are making money
from selling death.

As you all know, I am going to apply to join the Army on the day I'm
18, so my views have a slight bias. However, I still believe that arms
traders' activities should be much more closely monitored and
controlled.

Theres a petition called 'Million Faces' which boasts people such as
Franz Ferdinand (cock), Green Day (YAY), Liberty X (mmm Jessica and
Michelle) as well as Michael Moore (you fat cunt) and John Peel. 
The aim of the petiton is to collect a million photos of people
globally by the Summer of 2006 when there is an UN conference on the
issue.

Etc magazine says that the arms trade fuels wars, inflames
internation tensions, creates refugees and poverty as well as
destroying lives.  According to their statistics (no source given)
one person dies from armed violence every minute.

In 2003, global military spending totalled $956 billion. I've done
some sums out of curiosity and this works out at a cracking $30 350 per
SECOND.

Every country has a right to defend itself (yay for our forces) and
not every one has the ability / capacity etc to make fucking big bombs.
So its fair enough that countries can buy em from others. 
However, it would be common sense to ensure that the process is
monitored, wouldn't it?

There are some agreements and controls, like the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (signed by pretty much everyone except the
good ol US of A - cunts) and the UN enforces arms embargoes to certain
countries.

A good indicator of how Britain operates is this:

In 2001, BAe Systems sold a 28 million pound military air traffic
control system to Tanzania.  Basically, Tanzania is a shithole and
doesn't handle too many aircraft.  Globally, the deal was
condemned as a rip-off; half the population of Tanzania has no access
to clean water. Perhaps such a large sum of money could be better
spent?

The REAL reason the contract went ahead was the fact that 250 jobs
on The Shitty Isle Of Wight depended on it. And the government wouldn't
want to appear to be uncaring would they!

2.5 million Tanzanians suffer from HIV-AIDS as health budgets have
been cut to help meet the cost of the system. Great stuff! Twats!

Our main customers are the poor countries (Africa, Asia, Latin
America) - about $22billion a year - this could pay for schooling for
every child and reduce infant mortality by 2/3rds.

Theres massive political pressure on the arms trade though - 345 000
people in Britain alone are employed in the defence sector - with 65
000 linked to exports.

They are the basic facts, now for my rant .

We have sold Scorpion tanks and Hawk jets to Indonesia. Indonesia
isn't the nicest of places (200 000 people dead in East Timor) and so
we made them promise they wouldn't use the British weapons for anything
bad. Sorted? NO.  They were used to crush an independance uprising
in the Aceh region.  Aceh was close to the epicentre of the
tsunami - we've raised millions in aid, however, its dwarfed by the
777million quid Indonesia owes us. Mostly due to arms deals.

We've also exported to Israel, Columbia, Sri Lanka, Algeria and even
Zimbabwe!  We refuse to send arms to the Congo but its OK to sell
them to Uganda - who then sell them on.

Using my limited knowledge of world politics, it seems quite likely
that the next large war we fight is likely to be in the Middle East or
in some other rotting shithole of a place. I want to be in the Army, I
don't want to be fighting against some bastard with good (maybe even
better than mine) equipment and weapons! Ironically, the USA were
attacked with the same Stinger missile systems that they had sold to
Afghan Mujahhideen (later to become the Taliban) only a few years
before.

Tony Blairs exact words were 'I don't see the problem, if we didnt
sell them, some one else would'. Making it perfectly fine then eh!
Would a drug dealer get away with that excuse?

The 5 permanent members of the UN security council are responsible for 86% of total arms sales worldwide. Think what that means!

We are being duped by a government whos pre-election line was
'ethical foreign policy'. Would you call selling weapons to countries
responsible for mass genocide?  Apparently, 'ethical' means whats
best for the world as a whole and not just our own short term interests.

Fuck em all!

Useful Links:

Amnesty International: http://tirian.magd.ox.ac.uk/~chloe/amnesty/amnestyinfo.html

Campaign Against Arms Trade: http://www.caat.org.uk/

Million Faces: http://www.controlarms.org

Sources: Google keywords: arms trade

ETC magazine.

21.6.05 21:32, comment

Enya

My Fucking God! Somebody shoot this bitch! I hope she dies! Christ!



Here is a perfect example of Enya's lyrics ooooOOOOOOoooooooooHHHHHHHo WOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!



They fucking suck. I want Enya, her fans, her family, her lyrics, her
tour bus, her manager and anything and everyone thats ever come into
contact with this vomit-inducing, reeking pile of cock to be thrown
into a pit with knifes sticking out the side so if they climb out, they
chop their own hands off.



She must be cleansed.

2 Comments 19.6.05 11:04, comment

Marilyn Manson

Why the fuck does this guy get slated all the time?

HE FUCKING ROCKS!!!!!!!

Hard, aggressive, power chords, the don't-give-a-fuck attitude, heavy beat what more do you want? Manson seems to have the image of being commercialised, mainstream rock. I suppose he's seen as commercial as he's always in the news because some dumb fucker shot his girlfriend after listening to his music.

Get a fucking grip you cocksucking leeches - If the music and video games I play influenced my behaviour that much YOU WOULD ALL BE FUCKING DEAD!

If you can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy, then frankly you should go and head butt the pavement as hard as you can, for as long as you can. You. Dumb. Fuckers.

Fuck off and leave Manson alone you pricks.

2 Comments 18.6.05 22:42, comment

Benefit Fraudsters

Utter wankers. Deserve to have their balls fried and then rammed up their arseholes.

Just thinking about these dipshits makes me angry some I'll finish this off later.

18.6.05 22:06, comment