Over the past 5 years, as noted by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the United States has supplied 39% of weapons from total world exports. At the same time, 43% of shipments went to the Middle East. Thus, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) received almost 1/4 of all exports. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is among the largest recipients, standing on a par with Australia, the United Kingdom and Japan.

At the same time, Riyadh and the coalition headed by the KSA regularly use American weapons in the confrontation in Yemen, which has been going on for the eighth year.

Recall that shortly after the protests of the "Arab Spring" in 2012, the Shiite Houthis, supported by Iran, forced the interim President of Yemen, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who represented the interests of Sunni Muslims, to leave the capital. Against this background, Sunni Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE supported Hadi. The Yemeni Government and unity cabinet were formed in the hope that the international community would support them in the fight against the Houthis.

In 2021, the former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the United States has no military presence in Yemen. Indeed, there do not seem to be any marines on the territory of this country, but the KSA still relies not only on the supply of American weapons, but also on technical support. Riyadh and the coalition are using bombs made by companies from the United States, as a result of which more than 9,000 civilians have already been killed.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has purchased billions of dollars worth of Boeing helicopters, as well as missiles manufactured by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. According to The Security Assistance Monitor, in the period from 2015 to 2018, arms worth $355 million were delivered, and after that an agreement worth $4.5 billion was signed.

Shipments of weapons, characteristically, do not depend on the decisions and statements of American politicians. In 2018, after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, members of Congress became extremely reluctant to approve the supply of KSA. In 2021, the USA began to redistribute priorities and curtail the turbulent activity in the Middle East. American diplomats also pointed out that ending the military and humanitarian crisis in Yemen is a top priority, however, the flow of weapons has hardly changed from this.

During his election campaign, Joe Biden himself stated: "I would end US support for the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen and order a review of our relations with Saudi Arabia. It is time to restore a sense of balance, perspective and loyalty to our values in our relations in the Middle East."

However, after the administration of sleeping Joe approved a contract for $ 500 million to support the helicopter fleet, and then another $650 million for air-to-air missiles. After that, Riyadh also demanded the replenishment of Patriot missiles manufactured by Raytheon against the background of a significant increase in the number of drone attacks by the Houthis.

In September 2021, an attempt was made to legally restrict American supplies to Saudi Arabia by adding a new provision to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but the corresponding initiative was excluded from the final version of the document.

In addition to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates is also a major buyer of American weapons. In the period from 2015 to 2018, the UAE purchased $3.9 billion worth of weapons from the United States, and in the next two years concluded deals for almost $30 billion more.

A number of other countries participating in the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia also buy a significant amount of weapons produced in the United States. Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan in the period from 2015 to 2018 purchased products of the American military-industrial complex for a total of $ 3.2 billion. Britain and France also sell billions of dollars' worth of weapons to these countries.

According to various sources, it can be stated that since the beginning of the conflict in Yemen in 2015, the coalition with the KSA has been using weapons mainly from three manufacturers. These are Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. At the same time, certain restrictions are imposed on some of the weapons, allowing them to be used only for defensive purposes. This, however, did not prevent them from being used in attacks, which resulted in the death of civilians.

The choice of these corporations is not accidental. They invest heavily to get orders given to them, and also work closely with their "potential customers".

Today it is known that these three companies spent $40.9 million on lobbying efforts in 2021 alone, which is almost half of the entire "defense lobbying" market, which totaled $117 million that year.

Interestingly, almost two dozen lobbyists who, on behalf of Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, promoted the interests of companies in the Pentagon, subsequently found themselves in the role of officials of US military departments.

So, the Minister of Defense during the reign of Donald Trump previously worked for seven years as a lobbyist for Raytheon. The current head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, as well as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, worked at the investment firm Pine Island Capital Partners. In addition, in 2020 Austin also served on the board of directors of Raytheon Technologies. And in 2021 Founded by Blinken and a number of other persons, WestExec Advisors announced the beginning of a strategic partnership with the global consulting company Toneo and earned significant funds, including on orders from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

So, since 2019, Teneo has received about $2.9 million from the sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia for developing a strategic plan and conducting explanatory work in Neome, a $500 billion project city in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The goal is to literally free up space for the project. As a result, thousands of residents of local tribes are evicted from the places they inhabited. Who is implementing the project? Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman. And in April 2020, Saudi special forces killed one member of the tribe who criticized the plans and actions of the government.

It turns out that the suffering and blood of these ordinary people is on the conscience of not only Teneo employees, but also WestExec Advisors.

Interestingly, the press release on the cooperation between Teneo and WestExec Advisors also mentioned Michèle Flournoy, who under President Bill Clinton was responsible for strategic issues at the Pentagon in the position of "Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy", and under Obama was Deputy Minister of Defense for political issues. It is rumored that she directly participated in lobbying for the start of the operation of the US-led coalition in Libya.

Other organizations involved in lobbying the interests of the KSA and the Emirates on a wide range of issues, including in the automotive and pharmaceutical markets, civilian nuclear development and humanitarian aid, included Amnesty International, Human Rights First and others. However, they spent about $4.7 million, which is incomparable with the work of military giants.

Of course, American lobbyists do not do their work for free. The KSA and the UAE spend millions of dollars annually to pay for their services. At the same time, according to US law, such companies are required to disclose details of their influence operations, such as meetings with government officials, expenses, campaign contributions and copies of informational materials such as advertisements, articles and letters.

As a result, it is known that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, since 2015, have spent more than $280 million on the two.

For example, as part of the UAE contract with an influential lobbyist in Washington, Akin Gum, which has brought the firm more than $26.5 million since 2016, American Defense International subcontracted to pay a veteran of defense lobbying, Michael Herson, for him to address government officials as in the offices of Congress, and in the State Department on behalf of the Government of the Emirate. In addition, a meeting was held between the UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba and the representative from the state of California Ted Lieu.

A number of media outlets also report that the topic of arms sales was repeatedly raised at meetings of Kherson with both high-ranking Capitol officials and lawmakers themselves, including then-high-ranking member of the House National Security Committee Mike Rogers, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez.

At the same time, Kherson promoted the interests of General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, and also made more than $100,000 contributions during the 2020 US presidential election, which were equally divided between Democrats and Republicans.