Guns, rifles, tanks, aircraft, the whole repertoire of destructive weapons, are today marketed internationally like oil or motor cars with a spirit of ruthless competition. Individual entrepreneurs as well as governments may supply weapons to both sides in a conflict - a state of affairs that has contributed, for example, to the tension in the Middle East.
78 The power of the profit motive is apparent in the way that commerce in arms frequently finds itself at odds with foreign policies and national images: Britain has sold arms to both sides in the Nigerian Civil War; West Germany trades with Egypt as well as Israel; the Soviet Union, champion of equality, sells arms to South Africa; the United States, officially arguing the case for disarmament, is also the largest vendor of weapons in the world; and Switzerland, with her long history of peace and neutrality, is an aggressive exporter of arms.
In The War Business George Thayer, who interviewed private arms salesmen as well as officials like Henry Kuss Junior of the US Defense Department, has shown how the international arms business works and how the sale of weapons has profound repercussions on the balance of world power.