Naughty Naughty

It turns out that we're like this small but well-stocked hardware stall and our leaders are like so many discreet and slightly crooked market traders. Here's the deal: you can't just sell certain large-scale weapons systems due to all kinds of international bans, treaties, trade agreements and other unsporting export controls. So what we do is, we build them in small parts, and shift them that way. No laws against seperate "who me?" components. That, class, is what we call a "loophole".

How do you like this list of clients: Israel*, Indonesia, Uganda, Colombia, the Philippines and...Zimbabwe! It is further suggested that deadly bits sold to Uganda, Nambia and Angola could end up being shuttled to the Congo, a place so desperate for weapons that 6 national armies proved insufficient.

*Components exported for F-16s used to smash Palestinian settlements on the West Bank and Gaza, by the way.