laststandonzombieisland

SIPRI, The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has released their TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL ARMS TRANSFERS, 2011 report

Its rather interesting. http://www.sipri.org/publications/SIPRIFS1203.pdf

The volume of international transfers of major conventional weapons was
24 per cent higher in the period 2007–11 than in 2002–2006 (see figure 1). In
2011, the United States and India maintained their positions as the world’s
top exporter and importer of arms, respectively.

In the Americas the most paranoid award goes to :

Venezuela’s arms imports increased by 555 per cent between 2002–2006 and
2007–11 and it rose from being the 46th largest importer to the 15th largest.
In 2011 Venezuela took delivery of a range of weapon systems from Russia, including T-72M1M tanks and S-125 Pechora-2M SAM systems. Venezuela also reached final agreement with Russia on an additional $4 billion line of credit for future arms purchases.

Hopefully Venezula will go the way of Cold War Albania. Good old Hoxa stocked up enough of an arsenal to take on the world and then went out without firing a shot..

Scared of China

Its easy by looking at this report who is scared of the Red Dragon:

Arms deliveries to states in South East Asia increased by 185 per cent between
2002–2006 and 2007–11 to reach their highest level since the end of the Viet
Nam War in 1975. Deliveries to both Malaysia and Singapore increased by
nearly 300 per cent, while deliveries to Indonesia rose by 144 per cent and
deliveries to Viet Nam by 80 per cent.

Australia’s arms imports increased by 48 per cent between 2002–2006 and
2007–11. It was the sixth largest importer in 2007–11, accounting for 4 per
cent of all transfers. Deliveries included 24 F/A-18E combat aircraft, 6 air-
borne early warning aircraft and 5 C-17 transport aircraft from the USA,
and 4 A-330 tanker aircraft from France. These weapons, and those on order
and planned, reflect Australia’s policy goals of long-range defence and inter-
vention.

And the international heavyweight champion for buying bullets instead of butter is (no surprise)

Syria’s imports of major weapons increased by 580 per cent between
2002–2006 and 2007–11. Russia supplied 78 per cent of Syrian imports in 2007–11, followed by Belarus (17 per cent) and Iran (5 per cent). Russia’s arms supplies included an estimated 36 Pantsir-S1 and 2 Buk-M2E SAM systems
and 2 Bastion-P coastal defense missile systems. Russia has opposed a pro-
posal for a UN arms embargo on Syria and plans further deliveries, including
24 MiG-29M2 combat aircraft and 36 Yak-130 trainer/combat aircraft.