Slow Progress                     

ARMS SPENDING FUELED BY IRAQ CONFLICT

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute recently published its annual study on armaments, disarmament and security issues in the world. The SIPRI Yearbook 2004 observed that the U.S.-led military action against Iraq both displayed the "unique strength" possessed by the United States, as well as revealing the limitations of military power. 

According to the yearbook, world military spending in 2003 increased by about 11% in real terms. "A remarkable rate of increase," it commented, coming after the 6.5% rise a year earlier. Spending in 2003 reached $956 billion. The main factor behind the increase is the U.S. reaction to the terrorist threat and its action in Iraq. The United States counts for almost half of the world total of military spending.
 

Spending up
Military expenditure is also rising in several other major countries, but the increases are smaller. India and Japan have increased spending, roughly in line with their gross domestic product growth. China has also increased its military spending.
The study observes that the overwhelming share of the production of military goods and services takes place in China, Europe, Russia and the United States. Along with a continuing concentration of firms in the arms industry due to company takeovers, SIPRI notes that the traditional arms industry is moving into a new range of security products, in a gray zone between the military and commercial sectors.

Trade increases
The international arms trade has also increased in the last year, with Russia and the United States remaining as the major suppliers. Their major arms importers last year were China, India, Taiwan, Egypt, the United Kingdom, Greece, Turkey and Japan.
SIPRI noted that efforts to continue a conventional-arms reduction in Europe remain deadlocked. The main obstacle is Russia's noncompliance with the commitments it made at a 1999 summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, particularly on the question of withdrawing military forces from Georgia and Moldova.
In the Americas, progress is continuing within the framework of the Organization of American States. Meetings have been held on how to build confidence and deal with security threats.
Regarding nuclear weapons SIPRI commented that non-proliferation efforts continued to face serious challenges in 2003. North Korea announced it would become the first party to withdraw from the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and later announced that it had developed a nuclear weapon capability. As well, evidence emerged that Iran had secretly pursued over several decades nuclear technologies with direct military applications, in contravention of an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Good news on conflicts
The yearbook had some good news on the number of major armed conflicts. At 19 it was the lowest number for the post Cold War period, with the exception of 1997 which saw 18 conflicts. The main source of conflicts continues to be internal strife.

Characteristic of the intra-state conflicts is their resistance to quick solutions. For example, the long-running conflicts in Colombia and Israel have defied repeated efforts to find peace.

In Africa, the yearbook saw notable progress. Peace processes, with some difficulties, got under way in Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Sudan. The report also noted that military governments, often a source of problems, also came under increasing pressure from the African Union and various states to withdraw from the political process.
Fourteen multilateral peace missions were launched, the highest number initiated in a single year since the Cold War. The peace missions were characterized by an increase in the role of regional organizations and multinational coalitions. Regional groups accounted for 11 of the 14 new peace operations established in 2003.

Copyright©2003 World Mission Magazine