In 2015, the world arms market hit record high and reached $650 bn. Belarusian military analyst Alyaksandr Alesin made a comment on new round of the arms race for Belsat TV.
Why is the world engaging in sabre-rattling and who is a provocateur?
New conflicts are emerging in addition to older ones – India and China, China and Vietnam, India and Pakistan. Now we are witnessing the sharp escalation of tensions in the Middle East. These states are afraid of internal and external enemies. They have money, and now they are prompted to spend money on the arms race. In my opinion, the Middle East states are main initiators.
For long Saudi Arabia has had an unsavory image of one of the main sponsors of global terrorism. What is the likelihood of these weapons’ falling into the hands of terrorists instead of being used in Saudi Aradia’s conflict with Yemen?
Indeed, the road is left wide open for it. The case is that there are different groupings in the ruling elite in Saudi Arabia, including those supporting Daesh and buying weapons for terrorists on foreign markets and direct terrorists. Therefore, it may be a problem, but I still believe that the best part of arms is being bought for Saudi Arabia’s own needs.
What is the place of Belarus on the market at the moment?
Belarus offers innovative high-tech weapons, e.g. electronic warfare, radar, communications tools, reconnaissance drones. According to the defense minister, Belarus is going to sell Polonez rocket launchers, because we do not need many, but they are in great demand on the world market, in particular among countries that do not want to become dependent on Russia and the United States. We are even competing with Russia in this field, and Russia has expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Belarus is standing in its way. But considering the scale of Russia’s power and impact, the Belarusians have to take account of its interests on the world arms market.
