Merchants of Death

International arms smuggling is one of those businesses that captures the imagination of authors and Hollywood producers alike, conjuring images of suave but savvy businessmen in sharply pressed suits sitting in cafes in some European resort town hammering out three simultaneous interconnected deals on their satellite phone. Figures like this have and do exist, yet the illicit trade in arms is but a shadow of the defense contracting industry that supplies much of the world’s major militaries with their weapons, the United States first among them, to then only be sold off at steep discounts to the secondary market, which inevitably finds its way into the hands of smaller nations, guerrilla armies, and those with a penchant for military hardware in a business or part of the world that demands they maintain an extra degree of finality in their stride.

(Music Credit: Carlo Danger - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzhFViqWlYAqpika8N2idYw)