Infographics: The Middle East Arms Race

One of the reason for today's massive use of inflationism by governments have been to finance the war economy.

Yet when governments massively expand on their military capabilities, there have always been the itch to use it. In other words, the greater the direction of resources spent by the state for military capability buildup, the greater the risk of war or at least increased military 'violence' (either internal-domestic or external).

Of course, ongoing wars spur entities involved to acquire manpower and armaments to support their activities. This means that at the end day, war is fundamentally economics more than it is about politics

The Visual Capitalist has an interesting infographics on the militarization of the Middle East.

The global arms trade is huge.

While it’s hard to pin down an exact value of arms transfers, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that the number was at least $76 billion in 2013, with the caveat that it is likely higher.

The volume of transfers have been trending upwards now for roughly 15 years now.

Volume of Arms Transfers

World Arms Trade

Courtesy of: SIPRI

But where are these arms going?

The answer is that they are increasingly going to militarize the Middle East, which has increased imports of arms by 61% in 2011-2015, compared to the previous five year period.

The Syrian Civil War now entering its sixth year, and it’s clear that conflict is stopping no time soon in the Middle East. As a result of this and the various proxy wars, complicated relationships, and a continuing threat from ISIS, neighboring countries in the region have loaded up on arms.

That’s why Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have increased imports of arms by 275%, 279%, and 35% respectively compared to the 2006-2010 time period. Saudi Arabia is now the second largest importer of arms in the world.

Rounding out the Top 20 largest arms importers are other countries in the general region, such as the UAE, Turkey, Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, India, and Iraq:

Largest arms importers

Courtesy of: SIPRI

How are these arms flowing to these countries?

Here’s a diagram showing the top three suppliers to each of the biggest arm importers:

Arms Flow Chart

Original graphics by: MEE and AFP

When the global recession hits, it will be interesting to see if these governments will use their accumulated arms to escalate geopolitical conflict.