My Wish to Obama: Supressing Arms Trade Will Reduce Conflicts

Obama came into the White House from afar, beating all odds. Indeed even before presidential race he had ascended into the Senate, which was odd-beating too.

Like any change, a change from the age-old pattern of US presidency naturally had to have its fair share of opponents (stereotyped by one bullish governor from a cold place). When it was obvious that this is the man America wanted, the population chunk in his support grew steadily until crescendo, demonstrated in Chicago and, later, DC during inauguration.

The contrast between Obama and his predescessor was as stark as vision when one gets outside into bright sunlit street from a windowless room. (I heard someone recounting his feeling on the BBC regarding former President Bush--GW, going something like, "With bush, we just had to live with him, just like some people live with cancer").

I join the thousands of bloggers who welcome President Obama and look upon him as a person Fate sent to correct the many wrongs of the US and the world. He starts the task facing an uphill task of tackling-

• reeling world economy;
• hate and suspicion of many against US
  
• worsening environmental crisis; and
• several localized armed conflicts.

We are already seeing real effort addressing the world economy and environment. Plus, one of the earliest executive orders signed was the closure of the Guantanamo jail, Bush initiative of locking in the suspected enemy.

The conflicts in the many places, however, are being fuelled by arms that roll out of some industrialized countries, including the US. They kill and maim thousands of innocent persons in what is referred to as wars, but indeed most of such conflicts are engineered to create and sustain markets of firearms and other fighting hardware.

I have read books by Le Carre, Forsyth and others which are very factual fictions. Give some hobo a few dollars, a couple of cartons new-smelling tunics and a dozen uzis, and you've succeeded starting a "liberation war". The brute who initiates such war never steps anywhere near the battleground, although he may teach "his boys" a few "patriotic" songs and crash courses to his boys (some of whom may be as young as 13) on how to take apart an uzi and ambush little girls going to school.

Without arms manufacturers (and remnants of cold war maybe) there would hardly be conflicts in many places. The arms and munition plants are military contracts shrouded with all the mysteries including operational costs that, instead of aiding failing economies, continue syphoning unaccountable dollars for "special operations". Those "operations" may mean, furnishing travel papers and return air ticket to some African warload to jet to some obscure European town to sign a contract.

How to carry on, I don't claim to have answer, but Team Obama may have something handy on the way--why, i just read on the newsfeed that catepillar are cutting workforce by 1500. What's better, producing a catepillar that drives construction industry and provides jobs to thousands or producing a tank that ...?