Weapons go to conflict zones, the money comes to Germany

http://www.dw.com/en/weapons-go-to-conflict-zones-the-money-comes-to-germany/a-18798104

New figures show that German weapons exports increased yet again this year, especially sales of small arms to countries outside NATO. Critics say you need look no further for the root of displaced people in Europe.

Weapons go to conflict zones, the money comes to Germany
Ben Knight
21.10.2015

Despite its promises to rein in the country's weapons exports, the German government is still struggling to kick its addiction to war profits. The latest arms export report, released on Wednesday, showed that the value of Germany's arms sales leapt to 3.5 billion euros ($4 billion) in the first six months of 2015 - compared to 2.2 billion euros in the first half of 2014. Germany remains the world's fourth-biggest arms exporter, behind the United States, Russia and China.

On Wednesday, Economy Ministry officials argued that the new figure was skewed by a few large deals with long-trusted partners - such as the sale of a submarine to Israel and four tanker aircraft to Britain - and that these contracts were leftover from before the tenure of current Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Economy Ministry was also keen to highlight the overall figures for small arms, which anti-weapons activists say account for 19 out of 20 deaths in conflicts around the world. These sales fell significantly - from 21.3 million euros in the first half of 2014 to 12.4 million euros in the same period this year. "They have almost halved and are at the lowest level in 15 years," the statement said. Gabriel previously made much of his intention to lower Germany's arms sales, especially to countries that wage war or abuse human rights.

But this is just obfuscation, according to Jürgen Grässlin, an author and prominent German anti-weapons activist: For one thing, he said, the submarine for Israel only accounted for 400 million euros out of the 3.5 billion-euro total. "It's not just old contracts," Grässlin, who has grown tired of the "old contract" excuse, told DW. "It's new contracts."