Posted on 11/13/2010 9:05:31 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
'Weapons of War'
Germany Considers Loosening Arms Export Controls
REUTERS
"Eurofighter," "Leopard," Submarine Class 214: Germany is the third largest weapons exporter in the world, despite restrictive guidelines. Now the federal government wants to make arms sales abroad even easier to make up for defense budget cuts at home.
It all started with the French. Years ago, the Defense Ministry in Paris presented an official plan promoting arms exports. The German response? Self-imposed limits. Arms exports should be "restrictive," according to the "Federal Arms Exports Guidelines" from the year 2000.
The situation hasn't changed much since. In a recent issue of the financial magazine Wirtschaftswoche, an unnammed head of a German weapons manufacturer complained about the French: "We are the ragamuffins here, and they are the heroes."
That, though, will soon come to an end.
A recent report from the commission studying the structure of the German military, led by Frank-Jürgen Weise, the head of the Federal Labor Agency, states that the German defense industry will "depend more than before on their exports and civilian use of their products." The commission forwarded a recommendation to Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) for the "alignment of national arms exports guidelines to European standards."
"Export, Export, Export"
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
I guess when you sell on the ‘open market’ you can only hope your own troops or allies will not be facing those weapons.
Witness the dust up in the Faulklands....
Can you say Exocet Monsuer?
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