An article by Diana Bashur (MIA ’08), independent researcher, whose areas of interest include the Middle East, policy analysis & international development.

While the last two years have seen heated debates within Europe and the US about the costs of hosting Syrian and other refugees, there has been almost complete silence about another aspect of their involvement in the conflict: the extent of arms sales to the Middle East. By conservative estimates, between 2011 and 2014 Europe earned €21 billion from the arms trade to the Middle East while it spent €19 billion on hosting approximately one million Syrian refugees. During that same period the US earned at least €18 billion from arms sales, while accepting about 11,000 refugees. Aware of the consequences of weapons proliferation, have European politicians opted for a tradeoff, making taxpayers shoulder the short term cost of hosting refugees in exchange for profits to the arms industry?

Read the full article which was published on 21 December 2016 in Jadaliyya.