Saudi arms

At the end of WW 2 the US owned more than half of the worlds gold and this allowed the dollar to be the premier currency. Times changed and the Viet Nam war force the US to print more money and in 1971 Nixon ended the gold standard. The US was concerned about protecting the dollar so they made an agreement with Saudi Arabia regarding the sale of oil. The US agree to sell arms to the Saudies and to protect their oil fields from outside invaders if the Saudies agreed to sell oil only in dollars. This meant that if a country like Germany wanted to buy Saudi oil they had to pay for it with US dollars which means they had to sell stuff to the US to get dollars and the same was true for all countries. The dollar today still remains the currency of the world. The US is now planning to sell additional arms to Saudi Arabia and some in congress are objecting. Saudi Arabia will buy arms to protect themselves so it is best they buy from the US. Not only does the US get the business but any spare parts needed to keep the armaments operative must be purchased from the US. This allows the US to maintain some degree of control over how these arms are used.