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Arms trade
The top weapons suppliers in the arms trade include the U.S. at the top, followed by Russia,
France, UK, and Germany to round out the top five. Note that the weapons production by
the U.S. is huge business with its total of $49,000 greater than the next 9 states at
around $48,000
The countries that purchase the most weapons include, for the top 5, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, South Korea, and China.
85% of all arms sales by the four permanent members of the UN Security Council; Companies
include Lockheed Martin (US), BAE Systems (UK), Boeing (US), Raytheon (US), Northrop
Grumman (US), General Dynamics (US) and Thormson-CSF (France); Simple concept of arms company disappears
into a labyrinth of licensed production, joint ventures, conglomerates, strategic partnerships,
and cooperative armament programs; Weapons ësystemsí may be designed in one country,
manufactured piecemeal in several others, and sold both to the collaborating states
and to others; Harmless Land Rover vehicle sold to one government but turns up later
equipped with armor, radio and machine guns in the service of another government; Arms
trade not simple but complex web
Not just about things that go ë***í; Includes planes, heat-seeking missiles, armed warheads
and bombs, armored tanks, submarines, guns, rifles, rocket launchers, grenades; Also about
trade in information and technologyóweapons design, knowledge and engineering skill; some
deals no hardware exchanged; rather merely the license to produce a weapons system and
the instruction manual on how to build and use it; Prison and policing equipmentóriot
shields, handguns, truncheaons, water cannon, armored vehicles, leg irons, shackles, handcuffs,
pepper spray and tear gas also part of arms trade; Finally arms trade is about buying
and selling mercenaries and private armies whether to supplement a countryís armed forces
or fight off rebels, to defend a lucrative diamond mine or to overthrow a dictator
Small arms. Small arms exceedingly prolific, trade in them is difficult to control, and
devastation caused by them is so severe; Category includes: revolvers, self-loading pistols,
rifles and carbines, assault rifles, sub-machine guns and light machine guns, hand-held under-barrel
and mounted grenade launchers, portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, recoilless rifles,
portable launchers of anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems, and mortars of 100 mm caliber or
less; So prolific because small, cheap, easy to pass on, smuggle, hide, steal, capture
from enemy or buy over counter
Impact on conflicts. Twentieth century most violent (number killed) one in human history;
Two world wars and 30 years of major arms-fuelled tension between superpowers; Also featured
hundreds of localized conflicts, armed border disputes, civil wars, military coups and counter
coups, revolutionary struggles, armed invasions and terrorism; Were 40 armed conflicts underway
in 36 different countries at start of 21st century; World stability not only at risk
due to nuclear catastrophe, but also from a slow, insidious, systematic proliferation
of small wars and local striife mainly smaller nations, many in Africa. It is now the most
war-torn region in the world; Example: 1989 Charles Taylor invaded Liberia with 100 irregular
soldiers armed with AK-47 rifles. Within months they had seized mineral and timber resources
and used profits to purchase more light weapons. And cycle of plunder continued.; Poorest countries
of the world are so poor largely because of huge debts owed to the developed world, much
as repayments for past arms sales
Privatization of the militaryócorporate warriors. Provision of security long been recognized
as the most important function of government; By start of 20th century, state control over
means of violence had been institutionalized through process that spanned centuries; However,
an overall global pattern is emerging: one of growing reliance by individuals, corporations,
states, and international organizations on military services supplied by nonsovereign
private market; Thus the emergence of privatized military industry may represent the new business
face of warfareóprivate military forces (PMFs); Power of PMFs has been utilized as much in
support of state interests as against them. By removing absolute control from government
and privatizing it, the stateís control over violence is broken; The start of the 21st
century has begun to see the monopoly of the state slowly break down