Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Weapons sales to Middle East states soar

Haider-al-Lawati
Haider-al-Lawati
minus
plus

The United States, Russia and the European countries, among other states, have been selling arms to the Middle East for the past five decades, rather than supporting the region’s development through investment and knowhow in its industrial, agricultural, renewable energy, and other sectors. This skewed approach is no longer tenable, and the West must help countries of the region modernise and keep abreast of global industrial developments, notably by ensuring that the labour force is suitably trained to become a productive economic resources.


Today, military budgets in the region are twice those allocated for service ministries and institutions, research, science, technology and training and qualification programmes targeted at national cadres.


Millions of dollars go to Western and foreign companies that manufacture sophisticated arms used to fight proxy wars in the region every year, leaving limited fiscal resources for national budgets and forcing countries to dip into their sovereign funds to gain access to international loans. This is not to mention the inability of government institutions and the private sector to employ national cadres holding university degrees, who are growing in numbers every year and waiting in line for the opportunity to work in their home countries.


The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) notes in its reports on global arms sales that arms imports into the Middle East increased by 87 per cent during the period from 2014 to 2018 , when oil prices nosedived in mid-2014.


The US took the lead by transferring over one third of global arms over the past five years, reinforcing its role as the world’s largest arms seller, while the GCC was among the leading arms importers.


This heated race in arms sales enabled Russia to recently overtake Britain as the world’s second largest arms producer after the US, according to new statistics on the impact of “future arms” on Russian superiority. China, Turkey, South Korea and Israel followed suit through increasing their proportions by almost 170 per cent, 94 per cent and 60 per cent respectively over the past decade.


There was a big demand for weapons manufactured in the US, Britain and France as a result of raging wars, conflicts and tensions. Meanwhile, arms exported by Russia, France and Germany increased during the past five years as well.


Today, the arms trade and the development of military capabilities are priority issues on the global agenda, especially in the GCC.


This has exacerbated the region’s political and economic crises, igniting successive wars and hindering the establishment of robust scientific, development and educational infrastructure in the region, as well as causing the region to lag behind in the economic, social, industrial and technical sectors.


Meanwhile, defence budgets in some countries of the region account for a sizeable percentage of annual financial budgets, compared to 12 per cent to 15 per cent in other countries.


The wars raging in the region have prompted Western countries to place increasing pressure on their governments who are exporting weapons to impose an arms embargo to the countries involved in these wars.


However, some of these governments do not show any willingness to respond to these pressures, including the US and Britain, who believe that maintaining jobs and supporting the arms and defence technology industries is a higher priority on the agenda than the moral commitment of society.


The issue needs greater pressure for a radical change in the policies of these countries that are involved in arms sales to war-causing countries in the upcoming years.


haiderdawood@hotmail.com


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon