The World's Top Arms Merchants
The famed Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz observed that war is the continuation of politics by other means. He could just as easily have referred to arms sales. The global arms trade is brisk. For the sellers, it's a means to curry favor with strategic partners and to fatten the bottom lines of domestic arms merchants. For the buyers, it provides access to top-shelf technology that's unobtainable through domestic production. Every year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) surveys the global arms trade and identifies the world's top weapons exporters. This year, SIPRI found that Asia and Oceania were willing buyers, accounting for 47 percent of global imports. Not surprisingly, given China's rise, SIPRI found that Asian states were most interested in boosting their naval power, with submarines, large surface warships and combat aircraft topping their wish lists. Arab states in the Persian Gulf also went on a shopping spree, accounting for seven percent of global imports from 2008-2012. Of particular interest, SIPRI found, were missile defense systems. In Europe, it was a different story with arms deliveries falling sharply. "European states seem eager to abandon or reduce a range of arms import plans," SIPRI noted. That doesn't mean Europe isn't interested in selling; quite the contrary. "Many European states are also seeking to export newly acquired combat aircraft that they can no longer afford to maintain," SIPRI stated. So who's selling? These are the world's top weapons exporters. (AP Photo)
