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ARMS TRADE
MANY ISSUES ... WITH VERY LITTLE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
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PROGRESS is the increase in VALUE (of the STATE) from beginning to end of the period
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Simply measure the change in the VALUE or everything
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If there is profit to be made, there will be people who will do it. This is one of the issues that is central to the dysfunction of the modern global socio-enviro-economic system that has alevated profit and money wealth as the dominant proxy for success. Making money doing good is fine ... but making money on top of evil is not!
TPB Note: In 2000 I was attempting to address the question of community poverty on top of immense natural wealth ... and in Liberia the use of diamonds that were being trafficked out of the country in order to pay for guns, bullets and pay for soldiers under the Charles Taylor regime. Fortunately I escaped with my life, but it was far too close for comfort!
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Open file 2685
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Global destabilization
Thom Shanker, NYTimes ... August 2012 ... U.S. Arms Sales Make Up Most of Global Market
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Open file 3859
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Arms Trade, Society and Economy ... Big profits and low risk of being held to account
Mick Ranger ... an arms dealer who sold rifle used in Hungerford massacre jailed for trafficking deadly missiles ... Paul Cheston ... 20 July 2012
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Open file 2689
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MILITARY
The Golbal Arms Business
WORLD ... The Staggering, Semi-Secret, $70 Billion Annual U.S. Global Arms Business ... Welcome to 'Weapons R Us.'
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Open file 11605
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Issue
Arms trade
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Basic observation
The scale of the modern international arms trade is huge. It serves to destroy value in a lot of counties while enriching the organizations that design and produce the equipment.
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Prevailing response
The arms trade puts on display a massive failure of leadership and business ethics. “National Security” is used to justify expenditures on development and production of weapons and ammunition, but it is more about making money and playing politics and the consolidation of power and control.
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A better response
The arms trade is difficult to stop because many powerful political and corporate people benefit. Much more information about the arms trade needs to be easily accessible so that leadership and the decision makers can be held accountable, especially as it relates to the killing and mayhem that military systems facilitate.
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