Raw deal

Via EFE:

Washington, January 5 (EFE) .- The US Department of State today approved the sale of an arms package valued at 98.4 million dollars to strengthen its security by supporting a “strategic partner”.

The package, which must still be approved by the United States Congress, includes the sale of 6 Harpoon Block II surface missiles, 23 Block II Rolling Airframe tactical missiles, and 6 lightweight torpedoes.

“The proposed sale will strengthen our foreign policy, as well as the national security of the United States, by supporting a strategic partner,” the State Department said in a statement today.

The State Department release said that Mexico could use this weaponry to fight against drug trafficking organizations by strengthening the capacity of its Navy.

According to the latest official data released by the United States government, in 2016, Congress approved the sale of weapons to Mexico worth 686.08 million dollars. That same year, Washington granted its neighbor of the south 100 million dollars of aid to fight against drug trafficking.

I’m not sure buying missiles manufactured by the only country that is a potential military threat to Mexico is all that good an idea. The missiles mentioned are for taking out enemy warships, and there’s only one navy (on either of the Mexican seacoasts) that’s in any position to attack here.

Oh… but we can use it for “drug trafficking”, which I guess means blowing up our own ships bound for eager consumers of some of our products which will just go by sea if the great wall of Trump ever goes up… or are we expected to start a war with some third country, blowing a merchant ship from, say Colombia, out of the water? Predator drones, capable of targeting gun dealers in Arizona and New Mexico might be more useful to us right now

What I really question is that last paragraph. Gee, we’re given 100 million bucks to buy close to 700 million bucks in new hardware (installation and maintenance not included). What a deal… NOT!