Engines of War: Merchants of Death and the New Arms Race

Adams ( Secret Armies ) argues that the thriving international arms business is unaffected by the growing rapprochement between the superpowers, and warns that the world faces a new arms race fueled by the military requirements of the developing nations. In this well-researched and disturbing book he predicts a series of increasingly destructive wars fought by guerrilla forces and the armies of Third World countries in conflict with each other. Adams reveals that the Iran-Iraq war brought a billion-dollar bonanza to the arms business, enabling Brazil, North Korea and South Africa to establish themselves as major suppliers. He decries the apparent unwillingness of the foremost powers to prevent the proliferation of international arms deals involving weapons of all types (chemical and biological as well as conventional and nuclear), and stresses that the transfer of war-making technology must be strictly controlled. (June)