To Poke a Hole Or Two

Trey Smith

Quick: What is more heavily regulated, global trade of bananas or battleships? In late June, activists gathered in New York’s Times Square to make the absurd point, that, unbelievably, “there are more rules governing your ability to trade a banana from one country to the next than governing your ability to trade an AK-47 or a military helicopter.” So said Amnesty International USA’s Suzanne Nossel at the protest, just before the start of the United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which ran from July 2 to July 27. Thanks to a last-minute declaration by the United States that it “needed more time” to review the short, 11-page treaty text, the conference ended last week in failure.

There isn’t much that could be considered controversial in the treaty. Signatory governments agree not to export weapons to countries that are under an arms embargo, or to export weapons that would facilitate “the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes” or other violations of international humanitarian law. Exports of arms are banned if they will facilitate “gender-based violence or violence against children” or be used for “transnational organized crime.” Why does the United States need more time than the more than 90 other countries that had sufficient time to read and approve the text? The answer lies in the power of the gun lobby, the arms industry and the apparent inability of President Barack Obama to do the right thing, especially if it contradicts a cold, political calculation.
~ from The Obama Administration Torpedoes the Arms Trade Treaty by Amy Goodman ~

Hmm. Now why would the Obama administration do that? Don't they want to keep military arms out of the hands of despots and potential terrorists?

Here's why I think they "need more time."

The US is one of the biggest arms traffickers out there. It means huge profits for US arms manufacturers -- some of the people who supply the big bucks to politicians. The reason our legal team needs more time is that President Obama wants to figure out how to sign off on the treaty, so that business can continue as usual.

You see, they need time to find or create loopholes! With loopholes, you can pretend to do one thing while actually doing something completely different out of public view. That way you can receive plaudits for working with other nations to protect the world, while actually continuing to sell the arms that makes the world a less safe place to live.