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	От	Marat
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	Дата	06.03.2002 01:15:37
	Рубрики	Современность;

"Делай как я говорю, а не как я делаю"

Здравствуйте!

не помню выкладывал или нет сюда эту старую прикольную статью, но попробую еще раз

C уважением

Arms Trade Insider - # 21
30 July 1999

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

State Department Seeks Small Arms Pact
While Allowing 1 Million Handgun Sales Over Three Years

‘Our guns are not the problem’ is basically what Secretary of State Madeline Albright was telling the NAACP audience who turned out to hear her speak on July 13 in New York. During her speech, Albright extolled the virtues of halting "the uncontrolled flow of guns and other weapons into Africa."

What she did not reveal however is that in the three-year period that ended in September 1998, the State Department had licensed for sale close to 71,000 pistols and revolvers to South Africa alone. The South African military has only 73,000 active-duty soldiers.

Secretary Albright also told the NAACP that the U.S. is "negotiating a global agreement to prevent the illicit manufacturing or sale of firearms"[emphasis added]. Whether a pistol or revolver is obtained legally or illegally is irrelevant if it is used to kill people.

Focusing solely on illicit transfers serves the Administration in two ways: 1) they will avoid upsetting the powerful domestic firearms lobby, and 2) it leaves the door open for the U.S. export of small arms and light weapons the Secretary considers legitimate. However, this approach will not address a key fact: like illicit sales, licit transfers of weapons from the U.S. and other countries can also be diverted for nefarious purposes.

It is time that the State Department’s rhetoric begin to match its actions. If the U.S. is serious about curbing the flow of small arms and light weapons it should set an example by restricting the sale of pistols and revolvers to developing countries. Then the U.S. should back up its grand statements with action in concert with the international community to limit both the licit and illicit flow of weapons to areas of conflict. The Administration should also strengthen end-use monitoring of legal arms exports to ensure the weapons remain in the hands of the intended recipient.

We welcome the Secretary’s comments - it is refreshing to hear a policy maker say with regret that "countries that are among the word’s poorest spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying tanks, jet fighters and small arms." But all too often it is the United States selling the tanks, jet fighter and small arms to the poor countries. Last year the U.S. sold 9,363 handguns to Argentina; 24,093 to the Dominican Republic; 7,943 to El Salvador, 9,228 to Mexico; 20,432 to the Philippines; 22,688 to South Africa; 9,659 to Thailand; and 89,000 to Venezuela.