The reality of arms trade compared to its depiction in popular Essay

The reality of arms trade compared to its depiction in popular Hollywood Movie - Essay Example 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.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 towa rds the economically deprived countries. (Shah, World Military Spending) 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. 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 t rade has been shown, where force and power has been used to get hold of weapons, is a true picture of reality. Arms trade is one of the deadliest causes of chaos in the world. It not only allows military dictators to rule ruthlessly over the population but also gives them the power to continue their suppression and oppression over the suffering population. The deal that is struck between the arms lord and the dealer is usually of millions of dollars and both parties are completely unresponsive to the effects such transactions would have over the future of their nations. The use of such arms is highly questionable; on one end these deals are struck to protect the people from the ruthless rule of their dictators, and on the other it is seen as a source of strengthening the grip of evil doers over the sufferers. For instance, the movie story shows that it was apparent that the deal between the African military ruler and the arms dealer would bring about a massacre of nearby villages an d loss of thousands of lives, but still the deal was carried out. It is likely that the dealer is rarely concerned about the interests of the people who will suffer as a result of these weapon deals. It has been debated also depicted in the movie that after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, thousands of AK-47 and other Russian weaponry flowed into the hands of arms dealers. Since it was lying idle in warehouses and military depots, Russian military generals illegally sold them to arms dealers around the globe in order to make their personal gains. This surely resulted in the availability of one of the best assault rifles of all times and was soon seen in the hands of mobsters and warlords on all continents. It is astonishing to know that around 76% of world’s total expenditure is accounted on defense budgets. This amounts to a humungous $1.22 trillion, out of which 42.8% comes from the United States. (Sipri, Recent trends in military expenditure) This reveals that no matter what