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According to a recent report by the Congressional Research Office of the United States, the United States is still the number one arms exporter in the world, accounting for 4% of the total global arms exports last year. This figure is not surprising, because the United States has been firmly at the top of the world arms sales list since the end of the Cold War. However, in recent years, the United States has increased its arms exports to the third world, especially to turbulent and conflict areas, but it is a trend worthy of attention.

The above report shows that most of the weapons and equipment exported by the United States last year went to developing countries and regions. Last year, US arms exports totaled US$ 16.9 billion, including US$ 1.3 billion to developing countries and regions. Compared with $6.5 billion in 25, it nearly doubled. Last year, the biggest buyers of American arms were basically countries and regions with relatively turbulent situations.

recently, the United States put forward the so-called "security dialogue" initiative in the middle east, but the most substantial content of this initiative is to provide arms worth 63 billion U.S. dollars to countries in the middle east in the next 1 years, including 2 billion U.S. dollars worth of high-tech weapons to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, while providing 3 billion U.S. dollars and 1.3 billion U.S. dollars of military assistance to Israel and Egypt each year.

On the surface, this move by the United States is aimed at containing Iran, but Hatton, director of the Arms and Security Initiative Project of the American Foundation, pointed out that this move by the United States will not only help solve the Iranian nuclear issue, but will further escalate the arms race that has lasted for 6 years in the Middle East. He said: "This is not an export of arms, it is simply an export conflict."

At the same time, the United States is the largest supplier of weapons in the turbulent and conflict areas of the world. According to a survey conducted by the Center for World Policy, a think tank in new york, USA, 18 of the 25 countries in war all over the world buy weapons from the United States. According to the statistics of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, for every five ethnic conflicts in the world, the parties involved in four conflicts have received American weapons and equipment.

not only that, the United States has always adopted a passive resistance attitude towards the arms control efforts of the international community. An obvious example is that in October last year, the United Nations Disarmament and International Security Committee adopted the British proposal and prepared to formulate an international standard to stop international arms sales plans that might lead to turmoil and conflicts. The United States is the only country that voted against this proposal.

Some people of insight in the United States have seen the harm of this practice. Kimball, executive director of the American Arms Control Association, pointed out that American arms sales to troubled areas will only further aggravate the conflicts there, but in the long run, it will be harmful to America's own interests. In that case, why should the United States try its best to maintain the trend of expanding foreign arms sales year after year?

analysts pointed out that American foreign arms sales are inseparable from its foreign policy. The connection between the two is mainly manifested in: the United States should provide arms to its allies under the cloak of so-called "collective security" and maintain its allies' high dependence on American weapons and equipment; With arms sales as a lever, the United States can intervene and manipulate the situation in hot spots; The United States can restrict and guard against so-called "strategic opponents" through foreign arms sales. In short, the United States is trying to maintain its superpower status through arms sales.

in addition, the U.S. continues to expand its arms exports, which is driven by the interests of the domestic "military-industrial complex". For a long time, American arms dealers have formed a special relationship with the government. If the huge American arms industry wants to maintain vested interests and pursue maximum profits, it must constantly develop, produce and sell more weapons, and its products are difficult to digest only by the domestic market in the United States.