The battle for the Middle Eastern arms market is heating up
Chinese, Russian and local companies want to conquer market share from Western defence giants
THE FLOW of foreign arms to the Arabian peninsula began in earnest 150 years ago. As European armies adopted modern breech-loading rifles, a stock of old-fashioned weapons was left surplus to requirements. Rivalries among Arab tribes created a ready-made market for ageing arms. A combination of the region’s chronic instability and oil riches has since continued to fuel weapons sales. Most of them still come from the West. Now the shifting sands of geopolitics have left an opening for others.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “From muskets to missiles”
Business
February 15th 2020- The battle for the Middle Eastern arms market is heating up
- Burger King’s owner tries to regain its sizzle
- Admen have a clever new way to trick sports fans
- Elliott Management guns for SoftBank
- Youngsters’ job preferences and prospects are mismatched
- Chinese management schools are thriving
- American state capitalism will not beat China at 5G
From the February 15th 2020 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
Elon Musk’s antics are not the only problem for Tesla
The carmaker’s sales are sinking for other reasons too
Trump’s metals tariffs will cost American industry dearly
Not least because the president keeps threatening to ratchet up duties
China’s AI boom is reaching astonishing proportions
What might derail it?
The world’s trustbusters hint that they want more deals
Do they really?
Mistral, Europe’s biggest AI startup, is blowing hot
Not being American or Chinese may now be a help, not a hindrance
Catering to protein-rich diets is a tasty business
“High protein” is the new “low calorie”