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France sells Weapons to Iraq last month. (January 03).

Contributor: kn_aeshap

Date: 2003-03-08 05:04:53

"Are you trying to tell me that we should not sell any weapon whatsoever, even for legitimate concerns??"

First off, let us be clear on the point that in no way do "we" sell weapons to other countries. This is done by governments and corporations. In no way have I ever had a direct say in whether or not the government I live under should allow the sales of arms to particular countries...

Define "legitimate concerns" and I'll tell you whether or not I think Canada should be allowing military exports to go to countries under those conditions.

"I think selling weapons should be strictly controlled by the government, but i don't think it should become illegal ..."

Do you mean to say that you think the selling of arms should be controlled by democratically elected governments, or just the governing body in general?

I don't think that nation states should have complete control of military exports and trade- I think that's a horrible idea. Handing that over to the governing body of a country -the ability to explicitly control arms sales- sounds fairly frightening actually.

Allowing for something -like say- control...to be manufactured via the formation of strategic military alliances (between nation states) who can pick and choose the clients they sell to, under the direct influence of their own political and economic agendas...is an awful thing in my mind. And it sounds all too familiar for my liking...

I'm not sure I think that weapons sales should become illegal, at the moment- that's a tricky one. I wish there was no need for weapons what-so-ever...but I believe that when directly attacked, anyone has the right to use equal or appropriate force in self defence.

Humans have put so much energy into creating such amazing and destructive weapons that it seems as if -in quite a few possible situations- one has to "up the ante" in order to defend at all...it's a troubling issue, indeed.

Perhaps more effort should be put into resolving the issues that breed the want for weapons. It might be better to seek dialogue, than to pour time and effort into creating and selling more weapons- better to seek dialogue than to resolve our problems by beating-down our fellow humans with insanely advanced sticks and rocks. Perhaps we need to be much more vigorous in addressing the issues of why it is that nations feel the need to secure themselves with weapons of mass destruction.

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France sells Weapons to Iraq last month. (January 03).

Contributor: codc01

Date: 2003-03-08 11:24:56

The word "we" was perhaps misleading, i meant the canadian companies.

legitimate concerns : Self-defence and "certain" specific offensive actions to protect the greater good of mankind (such as the invasion of Germany to get rid of the Nazi regime - i don't consider invading Germany during WWII an act of self-defence). Don't ask me to define what specific offensive actions should be allowed, as I'm not an international law lawyer... Offensive action is a very touchy issue, and i don't have a real specific answer ... i think it must be analyzed case per case.

"Do you mean to say that you think the selling of arms should be controlled by democratically elected governments, or just the governing body in general?"

Controlled was maybe the wrong to use, i should rather say "oversee" that the weapons are not sold to countries which are not democratic, don't respect international law, and which do not respect human rights... This analysis must also be done on a case per case basis by the government.

"It might be better to seek dialogue, than to pour time and effort into creating and selling more weapons- better to seek dialogue"

I agree with you, dialogue must be the priority, but we also have to be realistic, if dialogue fails, sometimes you have no choice but to resort to force, especially when one of the parties involved in the dialogue is a despot and dictator. Mr. Chamberlain during the 2nd world war did try dialogue for a very long time with Hitler, and it completely failed...

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France sells Weapons to Iraq last month. (January 03).

Contributor: codc01

Date: 2003-03-08 16:26:55

"legitimate concerns : Self-defence and certain specific offensive actions to protect the greater good of mankind "

I knew i read a document on this somewhere, the actual cases where offensive actions can be taken are
discussed by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. Canada actively participated in this commission (to avoid the repeat of Rwanda)

For further information,
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/icissresearch/main.htm

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France sells Weapons to Iraq last month. (January 03).

Contributor: kn_aeshap

Date: 2003-03-09 13:52:01

"...sometimes you have no choice but to resort to force..."

I agree, that sometimes you must defend yourself when being attacked and help to defend those who cannot carry out the job by themselves. However, I do not think that this cycle will ever produce any sort of peace among the worlds nations. It will only ever continue as such...

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