7. Weapon exports and war and peace
I am anti-war. That being said, European governments are not 100% innocent, and there's more than the United Kingdom's support of America's wars for Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the military-industrial complex.
Canada.
Let's not kid ourselves, Canada is in the war business - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News
France, and to the lesser degree, the United Kingdom, still practice neocolonialism.
France, one of the wealthiest and most liberal democracies in the world, historically has a habit of selling weapons and military hardware to 3rd world hellholes, which it continues to this very day;
France has become hooked on weapons exports
Here’s what’s behind France’s 72% jump in weapons exports
France, exporting weaponry to third world hellhole countries and to an overpopulated one-party police state does not support liberté, égalité, and fraternité.
Germany, another one of the most liberal democracies in the world, is a huge arms supplier for Saudi Arabia, an unbelievably backwards hellhole of a borderline totalitarian monarchy that is waging war on brown Muslims in Yemen, and exports Wahabism and Salafism, ideologies of terrorists, many of whom's victims are brown and/or Muslim.
There are reports of Russian special forces (including SWAT teams) using the HK416 assault rifle and more credible reports of using the HK417 battle rifle.
I also wonder if the German government authorized the export of machinery to make Heckler & Koch G3 battle rifles, MP5 submachineguns, and HK33 assault rifles to 3rd world hellholes such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Myanmar/Burma, Sudan, and Iran, which allows foreign entities (governments, specifically) to evade arms export controls.
And to close this off, Diensteinheit IX (9. Volkspolizei-Kompanie) - спецназ полиции ГДР. - все про оружие человечества, the East German Volkspolizei special unit Diensteinheit IX has at least one West-German HK33 assault rifle, during the cold war when one would assume that there is a complete arms embargo against the Warsaw Pact countries, especially West Germany's next-door neighbor, East Germany (though it could have came from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, probably capture the rifle(s) from the Republic of Vietnam). Vietnam apparently also has at least one HK33 rifle (judging from the small magazine well), as seen in a picture in the article Vietnam Agents Are More Like The PLA - China Military Report, which very possibly came from East Germany (or was was captured from South Vietnam) and then (either way), modified into a designated marksman/sniper rifle. Though that HK33 could also have been imported from Myanmar, or less likely, Greece or Turkey, where the HK33 is/was produced under license.
Germany, your self-flagellation for crimes your ancestors did over three quarters of a century ago does not help anything if you keep selling weaponry to the borderline totalitarian Wahabi fundamentalist monarchy that is Saudi Arabia. You are missing the forest for the trees, or should I say, you are so obsessed with the holocaust that you end up selling some of the world's best weaponry to some of the worst human rights abuses in the entire world. In Germany, one can get into legal trouble for writing mean things about minorities online, but the German government hardly cares if Saudi Arabian soldiers, airmen and naval sailors murder brown Muslims in Yemen on a daily basis.
Italy, another liberal democracy, sells artillery shells to Saudi Arabia, which uses said artillery shells in its war in Yemen. The Italian government has also authorized the sale of the Beretta ARX160 assault rifle and its complimentary GLX160 grenade launcher to the government of Turkmenistan, one of the very worst human rights abusers on the planet that rivals North Korea. So that means that 1,680 agents (such as soldiers) of the totalitarian government of Turkmenistan have a potentially better assault rifle than some of Italy's own allies (such as the United Kingdom with its SA80), with 150 of them having a grenade launcher as an added bonus. In contrast, it is almost impossible for civilians, even Italian citizens to legally own machine guns in Italy, I do not know if armed security guards can carry long guns (let alone machine guns), and many, probably most, Italian police officers do not even have access to the Beretta Arx160, with even fewer, if any, having access to grenade launchers unless they are a member of an anti-riot unit (though the Guardia di Finanza and maybe the Carabinieri being probably the only two agencies that have lethal grenades). The government of Turkmenistan has ordered at least 120 Beretta Px4 Storm semi-automatic pistols.
But wait, there's more! The Italian government allowed the Turkmen government to buy 7 AgustaWestland AW139 utility helicopters, 3 AgustaWestland AW109 utility/attack helicopters, 3 Selex ES Falco drones, 6 Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master jets. 2 of these jets are trainers, and 4 of them are fighters. Would you sell NATO-grade helicopters, surveillance drones, and jet fighters to North Korea? Like I said, Turkmenistan's human rights records rival that of North Korea.
Turkmen Air Force #Current inventory - Wikipedia
Yet another reason to oppose the Afghan War is so the west would not need to appease central Asian dictatorships to allow the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to operate in Afghanistan.
The governments of Belgium and Austria routinely permit the sale of firearms to countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Indonesia, and Venezuela. I've also read reports of Glock pistols being used by Vietnamese and Chinese law enforcement agencies, along with Russian law enforcement agencies and special forces.
West Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy allowed the Panavia Tornado to be sold to Saudi Arabia. Germany, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Italy allowed the Eurofighter Typhoon to be sold to Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
If I was to get into all of the specifics of whenever Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany and France exported weaponry to 3rd world countries, that would be another article by itself.
As a bonus, I'll mention that the Vietnam Coast Guard has Spanish-manufactured CASA C-212 Aviocar series 400 patrol/cargo planes and Dutch-engineered Damen salvage tugboats. This do not seem like a big deal until they are used to chase down dissidents and people trying to escape the authoritarian oligarchy.
If European governments sincerely cared about Muslims and people of color, they can put an end to neocolonialism and cut off the sale of weapons to governments that do not respect human rights. Then again, maybe European governments need to find some ways to pay for their welfare states.
At one point, the Swedish government cut foreign aid and opted for more immigration, even though foreign aid would ultimately help more people, and do so without requiring that they leave their homes, come to a cold country with long, dark winters, get into confrontations with locals and other immigrants, and having limited opportunities due to having a poor, if any, education, competing for a limited number of jobs with one of the best-educated populations in the world, and the growing population making real estate more expensive and straining public services and infrastructure that are already expensive with some of the highest taxes in the world.
What should immigration policies be like? The truth about immigration exposed.
18:00
Sweden's Government is Lying about Sweden
Higher Taxes = Less Welfare - Angry Foreigner on Swedish Socialism
However, not everything is bad. I am glad the the European Union, along with the United Kingdom and United States of America has put restrictions on the sale of military and law enforcement hardware to Hong Kong after the passage of the Hong Kong national security law. Germany has interrupted arms sales to Saudi Arabia, but as far as I know does not have an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia. I do have mixed feelings about Germany restricting the exportation of firearms to countries that are not members or close allies of NATO, as that I do not want to arm criminals or states that abuse human rights, but at the same time I do not want to harm states that are trying to fight corruption and are legitimately trying to fight crime and terrorism (such as Mexico and Brazil) or law abiding civilians and security guards who are responsible and are not involved in crime or terrorism.
As much as it is my responsibility as an American citizen to raise awareness, campaign and lobby against selling arms to tyrannical and/or imperialist governments, it is your responsibility as a citizen of your country to do the same and not just deflect with "America does x bad thing". Do more than shame America for arming Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates; raise awareness, campaign, and lobby your own government to stop arms sales and collaboration with governments that do not respect human rights.
One Idea that I have heard from Ryan Dawson is to offer lifting sanctions on Russia if the Russian government would place an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
I am disappointed on how western governments have no problem with selling military hardware (weaponry) to the likes of Saudi Arabia, but are apprehensive about even recognizing the liberal democracy that is Taiwan as a country (and Taiwan is a flourishing democracy and has one of the very best human rights records in Asia), let alone selling military hardware to it just because of diplomatic pressure from a hyper-authoritarian one-party oligarchy turning dictatorship-esque and now an Orwellian nightmare state that is China.