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The international arms trade is big business, generating billions of dollars of revenue every year. Major exporters – such as the United States, Russia, France and Germany – care about little else than money when selecting their clients.

Over the years, these exporters have delivered arms to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and countless other unstable nations.

Now, in an amazing moment of hypocrisy, President Bush has criticized European moves to export arms to China, citing the potential for China to become a more significant regional hegemon.

Bush has also opposed a Russian-Iranian deal which would transfer nuclear fuel to Iran – fuel ostensibly for power generation, but that could be used to produce weapons.

The president is smart to worry about these deals – a heavily armed China or nuclear-capable Iran would not make the United States safer in the future.

Bush has a duty to keep America safe, but he also should realize his voice would be much stronger if he had the intent to address the underlying hypocrisy and United States’ role in the global arms trade.

In the past, the United States has given arms to countries who are now no longer allies, as weapons often endure longer than political ties and “friendly” regimes. Just as the United States sold weapons to Iran in the 1970s and now considers the nation a sworn enemy, a similar end to the Europe-China deal could arise.