President Obama's drone warfare policy is thankfully finally being discussed in the mainstream media. While the president's claimed authority to suspend the Fifth Amendment and order assassinations with no judicial oversight, even on American soil, is a disturbing outrage, the sale and spread of drone technology by the U.S. around the world also deserves attention.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the United Arab Emirates plans to purchase $179 million worth of drones from General Atomics. The purchase still needs approval from Congress and it is yet unclear whether they will buy surveillance drones or if it will also include the weaponized Reaper drones. What is clear, however, is that this development highlights the continuing growth of the influence of defense contractors, the spread of weapons that help governments tyrannize their citizens, and the dangers of America's permanent warfare state that has made the military-industrial-complex perhaps the most pervasive aspect of American society.

In President Dwight Eisenhower's famous farewell address, he warned the public about the threats that a large armaments industry posed to democratic process, constitutional liberties, and peace. Since then, the U.S. economy has been largely dominated by the perpetuation and exportation of weapons technology and a state of virtual perpetual war all over the globe.