Trump Demands No Strings on F-35s for Saudis, Predictably
When Trump boasts of 'no strings' on F-35 sales to Saudi Arabia, as reported by The Hill, it's just business as usual for the U.S. political establishment. This isn't groundbreaking policy; it's a reiteration of a system where advanced weaponry flows to destabilizing regimes with minimal conditions. One might ask if the 'strings' attached to US-Israel relations—like the $3.8 billion in annual
military aid, as confirmed by the Congressional Research Service—ever truly come with accountability for their use. Or does that only apply when US lives are at stake? This 'no strings' approach isn't new. For decades, US administrations have armed Saudi Arabia, enabling interventions like the catastrophic war in Yemen which, according to the UN, has killed hundreds of thousands. The very notion
of 'strings' on arms sales becomes farcical when the primary 'string' seems to be the one pulling the purse strings of US defense contractors. The Hill frames this as a Trump policy, when in reality, it's merely a louder articulation of a bipartisan posture that consistently prioritizes military-industrial complex profits over human rights.