Very insightful information that is great for anyone thinking about working on their own and changing anything for the better. Innovation is not an option, but rather a requirement!. Good work. Keep blogging.
Lanzarote

always talk of Iran...When I look at the photo (above) I wonder if/when these people will ever enter the modern world...700 AD was a long time ago to keep as your world view. When the petro dollars stop flowing, what will these people do? They have no ability to modernize as they live in a retarded state of being. They hate the "west" but rely on it for their very existence...???? am I missing something here??? And the U.S. held hostage to "protect" a corrupt, backward...primitive...barbaric "culture"?

Providing modern arms to war like "tribes" (There are NO ARABS...just... TRIBES...In the 21st century yet!!!!) is a doorway to disaster...Iran is in the same state, but trying to modernize...and is the target of another potential "Bad Guy"...Have you noticed that every American administration has a "bad guy"...

...Eisenhower/Khrushchev....Kennedy/Castro... Reagan/Gaddaffi...Bush HW/Sadam....Bush W/Sadam...And now the great boogyman...AL QUEIDA...this goes on and on I could go back farther in American history, but the point has been made...so what about Iran???

Bad guy or a creation for another war....War is big business...Big MONEY...Frankly, I'm sick of it...and I wish the American people would wake up...but it will not happen as I doubt most of them will remember what they had for breakfast...

Bottom line...I would not arm barbarians...I would be VERY careful when dealing with them...consider that provide funds for America's enemies (if these enemies really exist...as all administrations have their "bad guy")...

The problem as I see it boils down to this - one group hates and kills the other group, and they in turn strike back, and so forth and so on. As long as this situation exists there will always be a market for upgrades to each group's arsenal. Since it is against the nature of these people to just stop killing one another, there is no way to stop them from wanting the latest and greatest weapon as long as there are people out there with access to these armaments. Hatred is a big factor, but how can you expect to keep this going for 3,500 years without outside help. In the middle east the players are all well known and they truly do not want to accept peaceful coexistance - ever. So they turn to the western world and the Russians, Chinese, and North Koreans to supply them with the means to the inevitable end.

The US has participated in this cycle as well, but they try to only deal with the outnumbered and outgunned minority to even the odds and prevent the large and powerful from wiping them out. Because of this we get dragged into the mess, hence the current state of affairs in the middle east where it is the US and Israel against most of the moslem world. One notable exception has been Turkey, who while adhering to their islamic beliefs have chosen to stay out of the quagmire of Arab/Israeli conflicts over the years. Bravo to the Turkish for doing the reasonable thing and not jumping into the dogpile.

Most of the time that US military force has been applied in the region it has been to stop conflict and stop people who have firepower from exterminating those who don't . It's really simple - If you don't want the USA coming and playing in your backyard, stop killing your own people and stop threatening your neighbors. That is pretty easy to understand, yet it still escapes many of the states at war in our modern age.

The US has a long history of coming to the aid of those who cannot fight back and while we haven't been known to just rush right in at the first sign of trouble we will come if it continues and we will not run from the fight. Every modern conflict the US has been involved in has resulted in an eventual cessation of hostilities and our withdrawal from the affected country. The one noteable exception, the Korean War remains unresolved; no treaty has yet been signed to allow peaceful coexistence for either side, so the US has a presence there to this day to bolster the South Korean military against the aggressive to the north.

If a nation embarks on a mission to threaten a weaker neighbor or use military force to exterminate part of the people of that nation it is the US that comes in to stop the fight. We don't want to be in the fight, but we will make sure that it is finished. I am not suggesting the world needs a police force to maintain order, but the UN has used the US this way on many occasions.

We don't want to fight, but we will if made to, and that is what the US is about. September 11, 2001, December 7,1941 both were results of bringing the fight to our land, and the US will prevail now as it did then. As far as expecting peace to break out in the middle east, it hasn't happened since Moses so don't hold your breath waiting for it. Perhaps arming one side or the other isn't the best tactic, but it keeps the sides more even in strength and it would be a shame to do otherwise.

I don't understand the idiology of these western countries, they stop other nations (countries) to have all kind of destructive weapons but they themself have in thausands. If any country buys any weapon from these western coutries paying billions of dollars these countries are happy but if same country buys from Russia or China then these western countries oppose that country to have weapons.
These have thausands of neuclear weapons but don't allow others to have a reactor even for energy. This is injustice and where injust prevales destruction is the ultimate result. Goodluck to this humanity.
Do we know the best Gift The Democracy gave to humanity since its implementation, Death of 10s of Millions of Human Beings. 2 World Wars. Coutries destroyed completely, Why ? Coz of democracy.

Humans have been fighting each other since we jumped out of the trees. Probably before that.
It is in our genes.
We will war over anything, be it religion, land, insults, language, skin color, women, weather, water, food, and so on.
So, because this is our way, some people make a good living out of it.
That's the way it is. Alas!

the West has created the weapon industry. the west has started the war race. they are very happy to sell weapons. they also make up facts to start war in other countries to keep their weapons industry growing. But if any middle eastern country wants to defend it self they go ballistic.

What Double Standards.... there is a limit to hegemony. practice what you preach. every country needs to do what is best for them.

maybe the West can again take the lead but in the opposite direction by stopping the weapons race.