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Arms sales record as firms duck controls with 'flat-pack' weapons
Worldwide spending on weapons is expected to reach record levels this year at a time when the arms industry is increasingly able to avoid export controls, human rights and aid agencies say in a report published yesterday.

By the end of the year, military spending is estimated to reach $1,058bn (£561bn), about 15 times the amount spent on international aid, say Amnesty, Oxfam, and the International Action Network on Small Arms (Iansa).
That's total military spending, and the US is about 40% of that. Of course Oxam and Iansa think we're immoral to defend ourselves.
They claim that last year the US, Russia, Britain, France and Germany accounted for an estimated 82% of all arms transfers. Other countries are emerging as major exporters. Brazil, India, Israel, Singapore, South Africa, and South Korea have arms firms in the top 100, Amnesty says.

Posted by: Steve White 2006-10-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=167549