, Columnist
The New Global Arms Race Is Scarier Than the Last
The Cold War build-up had just two sides. This one has a lot more.
The race is on.
Photograph: iStock/Getty Images PlusIf you're looking for hard data proving that the world is increasingly insecure, look no further than the output statistics of the world's top 100 arms manufacturers.
The global arms industry just registered its first rise in annual sales since 2010, according to fresh data from The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The combined revenues of the world's 100 biggest weapons producers increased 1.9 percent from 2015 to 2016. That amounts to a 38 percent increase (in constant 2016 dollars) from 2002, when SIPRI started compiling the data. While the 2008 financial crash stalled an upward trend in global arms sales, it now looks likely to resume.