Arms Industries and Trade

Four experts discuss the merits of the Obama administration’s proposed $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

Brazen assassinations, kidnappings, and political intimidation by drug lords conjure up images of Colombia in the early 1990s. Yet today it is Mexico that is being engulfed by escalating violence, and U.S. gun laws, immigration rules, drug control and border policies all have exacerbated the problems.  

F. Gregory Gause, a leading Saudi Arabia expert, says the U.S. plan to sell some $20 billion in sophisticated military hardware to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states is part of a concerted effort in Washington to get the Saudis to ease their hard line toward the Iraqi government.

Russia has suspended its participation in a treaty on conventional arms and voiced opposition to a missile shield in its backyard. Is a new era of mutual hostility in the making?

China is transforming its People’s Liberation Army into a leaner, modernized force, raising U.S. concerns over Beijing’s long-term military goals.

The flow of Russian conventional weapons to Iran—notably sophisticated surface-to-air defense missiles—has increased markedly of late, complicating U.S.-led efforts to tamp Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

George Perkovich, an expert on India’s nuclear program, says the U.S. goal of trying to reach an accommodation with India over its nuclear energy program was a good one. But he says details in the draft accord, now being worked on in advance of President Bush’s arrival in India next week, were “very under-cooked and not well-considered.”