The Business of Terrorism

Terrorism is good business! Someone saying that deserves to be shot in the head. Think again! How much so ever one abhors hearing this; the grotesque fact remains that terrorism today survives primarily due to two factors – easy availability of money and the easy availability of weapons. As far as the men and women who carry about these operations are concerned there are many in this poverty stricken world ready to give up their lives to earn some money and in the faith that they are giving up their lives for some heavenly ordained cause. The heading of this blog post is snappy but the topic is as long and complicated as the worldwide terrorist network. Until countries fail to check the easy availability of money and arms terrorism would continue to make good business sense for a host of individuals, fragile and rogue nations. Terrorism is visibly upsetting. The very thought of a motivated radical scheming an attack against ordinary citizenry is a crime that is disturbing. Why would someone kill, and do so still believing that he is doing it for some ultimate good. Which religion or political ideology would promote a thought of such gruesome implications at the risk to alienating his or her community? It is estimated that 639 million small arms and light weapons (SALW) are currently in circulation around the globe. These weapons are produced in over 90 countries and over 1200 companies around the world are involved in some aspect of the SALW trade. The legal global small arms market is estimated at $4 billion and the illegal market is estimated at close to $1 billion. Among the largest SALW exporters are the United States, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Russia, Brazil, and China. The largest SALW importers include the United States, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Canada. In addition, at least one million small arms and light weapons are stolen or lost annually worldwide.

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