Biden administration not required to disclose sales below set dollar amount, in addition to public shipments worth over $573m

The US is reported to have made more than 100 weapons sales to Israel, including thousands of bombs, since the start of the war in Gaza, but the deliveries escaped congressional oversight because each transaction was under the dollar amount requiring approval.

“This doesn’t just seem like an attempt to avoid technical compliance with US arms export law, it’s an extremely troubling way to avoid transparency and accountability on a high-profile issue,” Ari Tolany, director of the security assistance monitor at the Centre for International Policy thinktank, said.

She added that, in exploiting the loophole, the Biden administration was following the steps of its predecessor. “They’re very much borrowing from the Trump playbook to dodge congressional oversight,” Tolany said.

In defending its continued arms sales to Israel, despite ever more public misgivings about its conduct of the Gaza war, the administration has argued that they are part of the US’s basic commitment to Israel’s self defence.

  • @harderian729English
    1•9 months ago

    But if you have no hope for climate change while there’s literally a sustainable energy revolution going on, you might be on the wrong side of whichever couch for you’re inside.

    We won’t stop burning fossil fuels as long as it remains economically viable.

    This is what I mean by we won’t fix these problems because we don’t want to. There needs to be a massive cultural shift from the ground up, and it loses steam at every pass.

    • @[email protected]English
      1•9 months ago

      Oh.

      Well, good news, that is actually why solar energy is exploding, because it’s so profitable relative to fossil fuel technology.

      It’s great to be concerned about the problems that fossil fuels had in the past so that whatever issues come up in the future can be dealt with, but sustainable energy is more profitable than dirty energy at this point.

      So the ethics are not why so many industries are switching over, and so many countries are installing sustainable energy, it’s much more than it’s simply profitable and practical with less moving parts at this point.

      And I know this isn’t exactly what you mean, maybe it is, but losing steam is good because solar power doesn’t need steam to produce electricity, it keeps getting more efficient and cheaper literally every month.