A global arms trade treaty could save some of the estimated 200,000 people killed every year as a result of armed conflict – but its success depends on the US President holding his nerve, writes Colm O’Gorman.
If President Obama can hold his nerve.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of drone use, has openly cited a number that exceeds some independent estimates of the total death toll.
This summer, Ireland will join other UN states to discuss how to improve the “poorly regulated” trade of conventional weapons – and ways to stop military equipment falling into the wrong hands.
In the past two years, almost 3,000 weapons have been confiscated from prisoners, including homemade items such as sharpened toothbrushes and pool balls in socks.
Tunisia is said to be sympathetic with the Libyan rebel cause – despite Gaddafi’s definant speech over the weekend – and is helping to covertly pass guns and grenades across the border.
RUSSIAN TANKS REALLY got into the spirit of things at the Russian Arms Expo recently by taking part in a ballet exhibition.
The choreographed display came at the start of the international exhibition to showcase Russian-made arms.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) places Russia behind the US as the world’s second-largest arms exporter.
Russian exported over €4 billion worth of arms in the first six months of the year, and plans to have sold over €7.3 billion by the end of the year. Last year, the country exported around €6.5 billion in weapons and weapons-related products.
It’s not all one-way traffic, though. The country expects to have paid nearly €10 billion on foreign weapons by 2016.
The arms expo these tanks ‘danced’ at is just one of three supported by the Russian government.
