Show me the money!...

To all the people who read this blog and think it is only a small border skirmish between Hizbollah and Israel. I ask you to follow the money. I have found that if you follow the money, you can learn a lot more than from what is said. It shows action and is not something that can be taken back easily. When a country spends millions (or billions), they normally have a reason.

To back up the claim that it is not a border issue, I bring to your attention the actions of Saudi Arabia in the past two weeks. Tanks, Personnel Carriers and ground troops equipment, Helicopters, Artillery, more Helos, Ship protection, and Patriot missiles. The last two were early July, so it wasn't all in the last two weeks. I'll sum the other ones without the Patriots and Phalanx.

It comes to... drumroll... $15.378 Billion... lemme say that again. BILLION. I find it very interesting that Saudi Arabia decides in the recent weeks to finalize that many deals for new military equipment. I know that just recently a defense cooperation agreement was signed with France, but you must question why it was signed on July 21st.

The GDP of Saudi Arabia was 340.5 Billion dollars in 2005. As a percentage of GDP, Saudi Arabia in the past two weeks was contemplating spending 4.52 % of its GDP. That is a LARGE amount. I am assuming that these contracts are not going to be paid in one year, but it is still significant.

Trouble is brewing, and many people want to be ready for it. Including the Saudis.

You guys got any suggestions on what other nation's spending I should look into next? I wouldn't mind doing most of the countries in the middle east, since the Hizbollah thing started.

One caveat. I do not show/ haven't researched previous year spending in Saudi Arabia defense, nor know if they need to upgrade everything. It was something that I noticed as I kept seeing more and more defense procurement from them recently.

UPDATE: I was in the shower, and the thought came to me. What does all of that defense procurement have in common? I see the common thread of a ground-based fight. Helicopters are used to support ground troops. Tanks and LAV's -> Ground troops. Artillery -> Ground troops. Ships... well, ships don't fit. But its also a very small portion of the spending.