Thursday, January 28, 2021

MBS DOOM: Biden Puts An End To Arms Sales To Saudi Arabia


 “I would make it very clear we were not going to in fact sell more weapons to them. We were going to in fact make them pay the price, and make them in fact the pariah that they are.” Biden

Following up MBS DOOM posts:




US puts hold on foreign arms sales, including F-35s to UAE

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has put a temporary hold on several major foreign arms sales initiated by former President Donald Trump. Officials say that among the deals being paused is a massive $23 billion transfer of stealth F-35 fighters to the United Arab Emirates. That sale and several other massive purchases of U.S. weaponry by Gulf Arab countries had been harshly criticized by Democrats in Congress. The officials did not identify the other sales that had been temporarily halted. The new administration is reviewing the sales but has not made any determination about whether they will actually go through, the State Department said. It called the pause "a routine administrative action" that most incoming administrations take with large-scale arms sales. "The department is temporarily pausing the implementation of some pending U.S. defense transfers and sales under Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales to allow incoming leadership an opportunity to review," the department said. "This is a routine administrative action typical to most any transition, and demonstrates the Administration's commitment to transparency and good governance, as well as ensuring U.S. arms sales meet our strategic objectives of building stronger, interoperable, and more capable security partners," it said. Source 



JOE BIDEN, IN DEPARTURE FROM OBAMA POLICY, SAYS HE WOULD MAKE SAUDI ARABIA A “PARIAH” 

FOREIGN POLICY took center stage in Wednesday night’s Democratic debate, with former Vice President Joe Biden saying he would not sell weapons to Saudi Arabia — marking a sharp contrast with the Obama administration — and stressing he would make the Saudis “pay the price” for their killing of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. “I would make it very clear we were not going to in fact sell more weapons to them,” Biden said. “We were going to in fact make them pay the price, and make them in fact the pariah that they are.” Biden also said there is “very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia,” and, in reference to Yemen, said he would end “end the sale of material to the Saudis where they’re going in and murdering children.” Biden’s admission is a significant departure from the Democratic Party position before Donald Trump. Saudi Arabia objected to the United States’ posture during the Arab Spring, as well as the Obama administration’s diplomatic overtures toward Iran, but that did not stop the U.S. from supporting the Saudis’ intervention in Yemen and from selling Saudi Arabia more than $100 billion in weapons. In recent years, under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has launched an unprecedented crackdown on dissent at home and abroad, and Khashoggi’s murder has led Democrats to call for fundamental changes to the U.S.-Saudi alliance. Source 



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