Gunpowder Economics
By Sean at 11 February, 2009, 9:20 am
Feeling the pains of economic crisis? Can’t find a suitable place for expanding market share? Don’t fret. There is one sure fire way to keep those exports up. Sell more weapons. President Medvedev seems to agree, according to comments he made on Tuesday. Russia sold 10 percent more weapons in 2008–a record $8.35 billion worth. The Russian President hopes that 2009 will be another bumper year despite the economic crisis. “We must treat markets more attentively, look in different directions, diversify our supplies, reach markets where we haven’t been present.” Or to quote Blake from Glengarry Glen Ross, “A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing.” That means closing those sales to returning customers like China and India and increasing market share in Venezuela, Algeria, and Iran. It is this kind of success that makes Russia’s second to the US in the death market.
Second? Indeed, both AP and the NY Times point to Russia’s silver metal to the US’s gold. AP even goes so far to say that Russia is in “a close second” to the US, though how close isn’t mentioned. Actually, the Russia’s and the US’s arms market share isn’t close at all. The United States sold $36.4 billion in arms last year, a whopping 45% higher than 2007 and four times more than Russia. Sales are expected to top $40 billion in 2009. Take that you Russians! A-B-C! Such salesmanship has already catapulted the US over Russia’s 2008 record. The United States has already filled orders for $11.8 billion since October when the fiscal year began.
Money flows from the barrel of a gun bypassing the mouths of the destitute. Or as President Ike Eisenhower said in 1953, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense.”
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Well you can’t feed the poor, or yourself for that matter, if you are dead. The defense industry feeds a lot of people too. You could say that the arms race during the cold war fed and clothed a lot more people than it ever killed. All that money spent on ICBM’s eventually ended up in the pockets of people, a lot of people, people who need to eat too.
It should be noted that US exports are probably mostly high tech weapons like planes, whereas Russia’s exports are probably mostly low tech weapons like small arms. As the bombing run in Syria a year or so ago by the Israelis indicated, Russian air defense systems are worthless.
Jason, you and I consistently part company on this topic of weapons. When I think about the impact of the defense industry on community I refer back to Joan Didion’s telling of the Spur Posse incident>
Here’s this from the New Yorker archives of 1993:
about the Spur Posse, a gang of Lakewood, CA, boys charged with raping young girls, credit-card theft, and other crimes; and the collapse of the defense industry that built and sustained the area’s economy. The Spur Posse boys and their parents had a brief but intense notoriety on TV talk shows after charges were brought against them earlier this year. The parents generally defended their sons’ felonious actions.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16811
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1993/07/26/1993_07_26_046_TNY_CARDS_000364002
There is more and more Russian ammo in the US gun stores.
@Jason,
Most Russian exports by value are first fighters and second SAM systems. Everything else is small change; small arms anyone can make, and sometimes much cheaper than in Russia.
The performance of the Syrian encounter should not be emphasized considering that a) it was an export “money model”, b) far from the latest versions and c) the Syrian operators are very unlikely to have been as skilful as their Israeli adversaries.
There is more and more Russian ammo in the US gun stores.
Are these actually Russian made or Russian designed like AK[#]?
Even in the glory days of the USSR arms sales, USSR proper did not sell as much small arms abroad as, say, Bulgaria. (I have no numbers, just something I remember reading about while working в спецхране АН СССР)
I would agree with Da Russophile, one sure needs to sell quite a lot of small arms to cover one sale of a Sukhoi.
As a general comment (a side note only, not in any way to disagree or agree) regarding Sean’s article, a lot will also depend on how numbers are created. Russia is no USSR, but just as an example, lots of military spending in the USSR were not officially listed as such. Knowing how corrupt Russian customs and reporting is, who knows how much of what is exported as non-military hardware actually is. I remember some time in late 1980-s there was a train of tanks and APV intercepted on the way to Novorossiisk to be shipped as scrap metal. On the other hand, remembering the sorry state of USSR military at that point, these could have been legit scrap metals…
First – Glengarry Glen Ross. Classic. Anytime you can work a Glenngarry Glen Ross quote into your writing, you’re a winner. Nice guy? I don’t give a shit. Good father? Fuck you! Go home and play with your kids. You wanna work here – close! You think this is abuse? You think this is abuse, you cocksucker? You can’t take this, how can you take the abuse you get on a sit? You don’t like it, leave.
Oh, where was I? Weapon sales.
The respective US and Russian lead in weapon sales is one strong reason why NATO is expanding and Russia could not be made part of the alliance. Yes, yes, Ukraine and Georgia, Russia’s southern flank, sphere of influence, blah blah blah. Military alliances are very much about sharing compatible weapons systems.
Weapons sales.
Russia is allying itself closer to Iran? Weapons sales. Venezuela? Again, weapons sales.
After all, the best part about making friends with the few countries that the US WON’T sell weapons to – is YOU get to sell them billions of dollars in new armaments.
This post reminds me that it is up to my generation to work towards a brighter future.
Do you know high school students who want to lead the movement to end global poverty and are ready to stand at the forefront of the fight for a better world? Would you like to help students and schools get more involved in addressing global challenges like HIV/AIDS, hunger, climate change and access to education?
Tell students to apply for the 2009-2010 Global Citizen Corps Leadership program! It\’s free, fun and a great experience.
You can learn more about the program and how students can apply online at http://www.globalcitizencorps.org.
The application deadline is April 15, 2009.
” As the bombing run in Syria a year or so ago by the Israelis indicated, Russian air defense systems are worthless.”
As the downing of a “stealth” plane in Serbia, and another downing of USian-made plane in Iraq with a hunting rifle indicated, USian “high-tech” is in fact quite primitive. You can throw a boot at it and it will fail.
More importantly, is this true:
The Russian President, school girl and two guinea pigs…
http://timesonline.typepad.com/schoolgate/2009/02/the-russian-pre.html
Dima, what say you?
I would like to expand on Cyrill’s point above … Russia is a very corrupt state. Weapons sales are generally on the books, but a great deal is sold secretively. A very recent example was Ukraine’s sale of Tanks and Arms to Sudan … oh, sorry, Kenya.
These figures will be found no where, and can double Russia’s sales.
Taking into account this financial crisis, many governments aren’t purchasing arms for war but rather to protect themselves from their own people. You will see, small arms sales will have a dramatic increase in 2009, proving quite profitable for Russia.
Actually Russian corruption is about world average. Like Mexico. It’s only “very” corrupt if you are using Germany and Britain as benchmarks.
I’m also unsure about what is so awful about selling weapons. It probably deters armed conflict as much as it is the source of it. Sure these resources could be more “humanistically” spent elsewhere, but we don’t live in central-planning societies.
I’m also unsure about what is so awful about selling weapons. It probably deters armed conflict as much as it is the source of it.
NRA logic.
You must be against Russian gun laws then. Following this principal, more guns on the streets would make the job of Russian police easier and deter the high murder rate in Russia.
“You must be against Russian gun laws then. Following this principal, more guns on the streets would make the job of Russian police easier and deter the high murder rate in Russia.”
Doesn’t work. Individuals and small groups are not analogous to state agents.
Come to think of it, the reason why the analogy doesn’t work is that the world has no police other than state agents themselves.
Chris, regarding corruption, being average is not a good sign. Russia should never be compared to Mexico or any other 3rd world country for anything, especially corruption. The education system alone is a sure sign that corruption is rotting the country from the inside. Children are being raised thinking that this is simply the way things should be, paying for their way through school and university, eventually entering the job market. Do you want a doctor operating on you that ‘may’ have purchased their degree?
As for weapons, we live in a vile society where brawn is mightier than the brain. Until governments realize the futility of most wars this is a never ending cycle. Since much profit is to be made from war, there is little chance that manufacturing weapons will soon end. Since the war pie is so great, I applaud Russia for being a key player.
Holy Putin!
Russia defends intellectual property:
Russia Admits China Illegally Copied its Sukhoi Fighter (i guess Russia was previously in deferment mode to give the perception of not severing any diplomatic courtesies and illusions between the two neighbors and trading partners).
You would think this is a quote from the RIAA:
“The original made by the designer who developed the product is always better, and it is a better start for a new program with the original designer and developer than making a fake copy.”
Whatever happened to the Chinese ship that was sank by the Russian Navy? (talk about fire and forget). I thought the NeoCon Western news agencies love these perceived breaches in Sino-Russian relations?
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-02/21/content_7498828.htm