The Reality of Arms Trade

The Reality of Arms Trade

Introduction

Lord of War is a dramatic action film of 2005 co-produced by France, the United States and Germany, written and directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan and Ethan Hawke in the lead roles. Based on a true story, set in the world and globalized the arms trade, the film explores a little known consequence of the end of the Cold War: the enormous number of weapons that became available in the former Soviet states, to be sold to countries developing (especially Africa), the business meant for developed countries like USA, China or the European Union, and the vast sums of money amassed by dealers selling weapons to the participants of the various conflicts. The movie Lord of War does portray a true picture of the global arms industry existing in the world. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the degree of its reality is different since these things are hidden from the general public. The incidents depicted in this movie clearly highlight how in real life certain factors push one to pursue the worst of jobs. The life story of Yuri portrays him as a person caught up in a situation where he has to deal in arms trade in order to give others a chance to protect themselves. His initial intention is to provide the people with a necessity of life, but later on he turns into an arms dealer who builds contacts and uses his networks to sell arms and ammunition without caring for the lives of others. The way the trade has been shown, where force and power has been used to get hold of weapons, is a true picture of reality (Tonnessen, 2011).

Discussion

The global arms industry comprises of various governments and individual commercial companies who manufacture and sell weapons and other advanced form of military technology and equipment. This industry has grown in both volume and its reach. Now more and more developing countries are being served by these arms producing entities. A huge sum of cash is being spent on research, development, manufacture and supply of military equipment to the developing world. These defense contractors produce guns, ammunition, military aircraft, missile and other defense related equipment. Experts estimate that nearly 1.5 trillion dollars are wasted on the various military expenditures worldwide. Although the percentage has come down from 4% in 1990 to 2.7% at present, the volume has increased significantly and the sale has been focused more towards the economically deprived countries. These countries lack enough funds to provide for the well-being of its people but somehow they manage to spend a substantial amount of their GDP on defense budgets. Arms Trade has impeded the prosperity of this world and its negative effects are just increasing as it has become a nuisance for the well-being of the people (Sipri, 2011).

Arms trade is one of the deadliest causes of chaos in the world. It not only allows military dictators to rule ...