Nigeria: Every Victim a Statistic, But Never a US Arms Deal
ABC News reports on the tragic violence in Nigeria, carefully framing it as a universally-affecting phenomenon where 'everyone — Christian or Muslim — is a potential victim.' This neutral, almost poetic framing conveniently sidesteps the messy reality of how Western arms flow into the region, exacerbating conflicts often rooted in resource competition and historical grievances. Washington, for
instance, approved a $997 million arms sale to Nigeria in 2022 , including attack helicopters and related support, ostensibly for counter-terrorism efforts. Yet, who benefits from these arms sales when the violence continues, and often escalates? One might wonder if the 'potential victim' framing is less about humanizing the conflict and more about depoliticizing the global supply chain of
weaponry fueling it. It's easier to mourn amorphous 'violence' than to scrutinize the nations—including the U.S.—that profit from arming both sides or the state actors whose policies directly contribute to insecurity. The same media outlets that decry civilian casualties rarely connect the dots to their own governments' lucrative military-industrial complex, ensuring the 'violence' remains a
cyclical, market-friendly phenomenon.