Do as we say, not as we do

Or "A Tale of Two Arms Races."

Manaus, Brazil (AP, March 23) - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Wednesday criticized Venezuela's reported efforts to purchase 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Russia, suggesting that Venezuela's possession of so many weapons would threaten the hemisphere. ...

"I can't imagine what's going to happen to 100,000 AK-47s," Rumsfeld said at a news conference in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, which shares a border with Venezuela.

"I can't understand why Venezuela needs 100,000 AK-47s. I personally hope it doesn't happen. I can't imagine if it did happen it would be good for the hemisphere," the defense secretary said.

Venezuela, which has a total of 130,000 troops and reservists, says the guns are to replace older weapons in its arsenal. The White House, abetted by a media muttering darkly about guerrilla groups "armed with weapons and ammunition from Nicaragua, a former Soviet client" and Venezuela's desire to manufacture 7.62mm bullets "that are in common use among guerrillas and criminals," hints broadly that the guns will instead wind up in the hands of those guerrillas - Venezuela apparently occupying for the Bushites the same place Nicaragua did for the Reaganites.

Many Latin America nations has [sic] reduced the size of their militaries since the violence of the 1980s. Officials fear [President Hugo] Chavez's actions could lead to a new arms race.

It's hard to tell from the article, but it appears that the "officials" here are American officials, not Latin American officials, since they are the only ones cited in the article as expressing concern.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the International Herald Tribune for March 26 tells us that

[t]he United States has agreed to sell F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan in a major policy shift that is meant to reward that country for its help in combating terrorism and is certain to antagonize India. ...

The F-16 comes in both single-seat and two-seat models and is one of the premier weapons in the Pentagon's air arsenal. ...

India has lobbied against Pakistan's acquisition of the planes because it fears Pakistan would use them if war between India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, broke out again, as it has several times in the past half-century.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited both India and Pakistan this month, and there were reports that she signaled U.S. willingness to sell F-16s to both Pakistan and to India, if India wanted them.

So let's sum up: Venezuela wants to get small arms from Russia for its army. This is bad. This threatens the entire hemisphere and can set off an arms race. Pakistan wants to get top-of-the-line, nuclear-capable fighter jets from us, which we are also willing to sell to India - even though these two nations, both possessing nuclear weapons, have been in near-constant conflict since partition and have been at war three times since 1947. This is good. This threatens nothing and is no part of any arms race.

There's just one last thing I need to understand, though: Does the difference the WHS* see lie in who is getting the weapons - or in who is selling them?

Footnote: Brazil's vice president and defense minister, Jose Alencar, appeared with Rumsfeld but declined to criticize Chavez, saying Brazil respects other nations' right to self-determination.

*WHS = White House Sociopaths