World News and Trends: Selling weapons to unstable governments
Britain is far from the only Western nation to sell arms to some of the most unstable countries.
However, a fairly recent investigative report by The Independent on Sunday revealed that the United Kingdom has unabashedly marketed its military hardware to nations embroiled in ethnic conflicts and civil wars.
For instance, "Britain sold arms worth tens of millions of pounds to India and Pakistan last year, before the Kashmir crisis reached boiling point."Angola and Kenya were also recipients of British military wares, as were several unstable former Soviet republics.
During a tour of the African continent earlier this year, Prime Minister Tony Blair commented:"We cannot ignore these conflicts because sooner or later they end up on your doorstep." Often overlooked, however, are that Western arms have been marketed to nations in which serious potential conflicts are already apparent.
The predictable comeback: "If we don't sell them these arms, other nations will." This is a good example of the conundrums countries get themselves into through greed and lack of foresight. International affairs have gone awry.We suffer if we do and we suffer if we don't.These are catch-22 situations.
Only God can sort out the world in its present state. Man has had his chance and failed miserably. Our free booklet The Gospel of the Kingdom shows how we will finally emerge from our great global problems. (Source: The Independent on Sunday [London].)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: January - February 2003
Course Content
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
