Armament: The secret race

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The Kalaschnikow - perhaps the best known automatic weapon in the world.

It is used in all theatres of war and is as popular with security forces as with insurgents, guerrilla warfare commanders, and terrorists.

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Respected worldwide, the Kalaschnikow is the standard weapon of the infantry in 82 different armies.

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It has also been discovered on this German freighter.

The Israeli navy seized the explosive load on this freighter at the beginning of November.

Over 300 metric tons of armament material was found in boxes and containers, including anti-aircraft rockets and bazookas, ammunition and automatic weapons. The weapons will most probably go to Hizbollah and Syria. The sender is assumed to be Iran.

The international troops which are stationed in the Middle East to prevent such smuggling had not noticed the freighter.

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The biggest weapon exporters of the world are the USA, Russia and, unexpectedly in third place, Germany.

In 2009 President Obama, the new Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, scheduled a legendary 534 billion dollars for armament and the military. Among other things, for the brand new  F - 35 stealth fighter jet. Not included in this figure is the funding for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as for nuclear armament. If it is all added together, the USA is spending more on armament now than ever, since the Second World War.

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US generals still plan as if a war with the Soviet Union was imminent, say the peace researchers of the Stockholm Sipri institute.

2 ` 07 - 2 ` 36 Paul OT Holtom, Sipri, peace research institute, Stockholm

 „ We have registered a significant increase in weapon import in some areas of the world. Primarily, it is the Middle East which causes us concern, but there are also dramatic developments, however, in Latin America, Africa and in some Asian states. 

The massive re-armament and the political tensions in these regions of course also alarm the neighbouring countries. Thus the spectre of a conventional war has not disappeared. "

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Meanwhile German armament companies have become world leaders in weapon trading.

They find their main buyers in Turkey, Greece and South Africa. Leopard 2 tanks and submarines are big money-spinners in these countries.

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And of course many weapons are delivered in the Middle East, not least due to the situation in Afghanistan.

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The biggest supplier here is the USA. Almost 40 percent of its armament exports goes to this region.

3 ` 14 - 3 ` 52 Paul OT Holtom

„ The situation in Iran has led to the fact that in many states in the Gulf region the armament race is getting faster and faster. This could lead in the long term to an uncontrollable arms race which would destabilize the whole region. Iran arms itself massively and the neighbouring states must go along with it. This is all together one very disconcerting situation, which could easily lead to an armed conflict. "

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In the Far East the arms deals also run as if greased. However, weapons imports into China have strongly depleted. The country produces many weapons itself and meanwhile Beijing has become a weapon exporter.

With 3.5 million soldiers China has the world’s biggest army. The American-Japanese military alliance has for decades determined the fate of the coast of China. Now that is over. China is seen by the USA and Japan as a military rival whom it is a necessary to deter.

4 ` 27 - 5 ` 21 Paul OT Holtom (slowly)

„ China has operated until the nineties with weapon systems from the 50s. During the last years we have observed a significant modernization of the weapon systems, which should underline the role of China not only as an economic and political world power, but also as a great military power.

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This leads to substantial concern in the neighbouring states. India is arming itself massively; Delhi is the second largest importer of conventional weapons, which come mainly from Russia. Moscow also supplies Beijing with the newest weapon systems, by the way. "

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International weapon fairs are also being visited more and more often by prospective South American customers. Brazil recently sealed an armament deal with France for 8.2 billion Euros for weapon systems to protect the gigantic oil camps by the coast and the immense reserves in oil, natural gas and uranium in the Amazon basin.

According to the calculations of SIPRI, South America invested about 24 billion Euros in armament last year. This sum could in one stroke solve the social problems of this continent, in which almost one third of the people live in poverty.

6 ` 02 - 6 ` 31 DM OT of Bromley, Sipri, peace research institute, Stockholm

 „ The biggest problem which we see in Latin America is not the weapons procurement program, but the atmosphere in which the weapon deals run off. There is big mistrust and virtually no transparency or calculability, and in this atmosphere weapon purchases can lead to false appraisals and mistakes. And in that there lies the real danger. "

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New negotiations on arms control are necessary, in view of the still huge arsenals in nuclear weapons. So far, serious efforts towards arms control or even disarmament have not been successful.

6 ` 50 - 7 ` 32 Paul OT Holtom

 „ During the last two years we have seen many conventional wars; in Sri Lanka, the conflict between Russia and Georgia, the armed hostilities between Israel and Lebanon or Gaza, Sudan, Chad, the Central African Republic. The conflicts are carried out with practically all weapon systems, from the Kalaschnikow up to highly mechanized fighter aircraft. The world should not, therefore, look away, but take responsibility, since these weapons are supplied from politically stable countries like the United States or European countries. "

Inserts:

Report: Alexander Steinbach / Harald Bohrer

Cooperation: Ulrica Stenbeck

Camera: Thomas Blohm

Cut: Richard Stanzl

Speaker: