Khashoggi murder: It's not foolish for US to use arms leverage on Saudis

While it's true that Russia and China are indeed major exporters of armaments, the claim that US weapons can easily be replaced by other suppliers is not - at least not in the short term

Among Donald Trump’s many unusual characteristics as president is his frankness.

Last week, after the disappearance and apparent torture and murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump argued that “we would be punishing ourselves” by canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia over a human rights concern. Few world leaders, or former U.S. presidents, would have been so bold as to publicly admit that a Saudi journalist’s life is not worth the loss of arms sales.

And it’s true that the armaments relationship between these two countries is long-established and lucrative for U.S. companies, as my