What is it we're really trying to deter?

The altruistic, unwavering commitment to global peace, freedom and democracy? Priceless. But when the warfare state needs to stimulate the export market to ensure increasing demand for more product? There's Mastercard. Or something.

Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at $85.3 billion in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in deals. The American weapons sales total was an “extraordinary increase” over the $21.4 billion in deals for 2010, the study found, and was the largest single-year sales total in the history of United States arms exports.