Andrew J. Shapiro, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, gave this special joint press briefing on U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, on December 29, 2011.

Leslie H. Gelb says the rise of arms sales in the Middle East may actually be helping keep the peace.

Report

India is planning to buy $100 billion worth of new weapons over the next ten years.

As U.S. marines fought in Marja last year, they captured the weapons used by Taliban fighters.

Regarding the United States' sale of arms to Taiwan, Leslie H. Gelb states, "It's not at all clear that Chinese and American leaders have thought strategically about their next moves and how to keep the situation within bounds."

Brazen assassinations, kidnappings, and political intimidation by drug lords conjure up images of Colombia in the early 1990s. Yet today it is Mexico that is being engulfed by escalating violence, and U.S. gun laws, immigration rules, drug control and border policies all have exacerbated the problems.

The American military has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22-year-old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur to arm the Afghan forces that it hopes will lead the fight against the insurgency in Afghanistan. C. J. Chivers writes that much of this ammunition comes from the aging stockpiles of the old Communist bloc and has been deemed unreliable and obsolete.

Washington worries the new civilian government in Islamabad may put a halt to its plans for increased U.S. military action within Pakistan.

F. Gregory Gause, a leading Saudi Arabia expert, says the U.S. plan to sell some $20 billion in sophisticated military hardware to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states is part of a concerted effort in Washington to get the Saudis to ease their hard line toward the Iraqi government.

As China increases its military spending, the Taiwanese president ups the independence ante.

The GAO identifies weaknesses and recommends improvements for U.S. agencies that deter the illegal export of military products.

The flow of Russian conventional weapons to Iran—notably sophisticated surface-to-air defense missiles—has increased markedly of late, complicating U.S.-led efforts to tamp Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Closer Russia-Iran ties, as evidenced by their growing conventional arms trade, may complicate efforts to sanction Tehran for its alleged nuclear weapons program at the UN Security Council.

In this Center for Strategic and International Studies brief, Anthony Cordesmann wars that despite significant arms transfers, analysts are overestimating Iran's influence over Hezbollah's latest actions.

Oxfam details flaws in the UN arms embargo system that lead to widespread violations. The report urges improved monitoring and verification to combat the problem.

George Perkovich, an expert on India’s nuclear program, says the U.S. goal of trying to reach an accommodation with India over its nuclear energy program was a good one. But he says details in the draft accord, now being worked on in advance of President Bush’s arrival in India next week, were “very under-cooked and not well-considered.”

“The American people's friendship with the people of Asia is stronger than at any time in our nation's relatively young history. Over the past few decades, the nations of the Asia-Pacific region have become some of the world's fastest-growing centers for opportunity, prosperity and knowledge. The challenges in the Pacific region are considerable, but behind the challenges is an abundance of opportunity.”