Andrew FeinsteinGuest
Ruth RohdeGuest
Bridget ConleyHost
Jack CinamonGuest
So, Andrew, I'm going to turn back to you and the many decades that you have spent documenting how the global arms trade corrupts democratic practices.

We are seeing the role of artificial intelligence and all sorts of technological developments that are making warfare more deadly in many ways.

So it's estimated that the arms trade accounts for around 40% of all corruption in world trade.

And there are obviously geopolitical issues and policy issues that lead to war.

And a primary reason for that is that our political systems have become totally corrupted by the bribery and corruption in the arms trade.

So, you know, when, for instance, Britain sells weapons to Saudi Arabia or to Israel, it's not just the Saudi royal family or Netanyahu and those around him who benefit materially from that.

So warfare, conflict, has actually become an incredibly important part of funding our political processes in the so-called West.

The second thing, and these two are very interrelated, it's a sort of a chicken and egg situation, is that this means that the world in which we live today Our political leaders always favor conflict over diplomacy as a way of resolving differences.

I think another feature that is extremely important is the impunity with which the global arms trade operates.

We find ourselves in a world where this very corrupt trade is extremely dominant in our political processes, reinforces policies that favor conflict over diplomacy, and at the same time, Unfortunately, a lot of the key players in our political world are benefiting materially and personally, and there is virtually no recourse to the law, so that this incredibly secretive world has also become something like a legal planet in its own right, where the laws that apply to the rest of us don't seem to apply at all.

Andrew, you started off with the example of South Africa where bribes that were paid were then filtered into a political party.

Do you have any examples from Western context? How does it work? Because, you know, there might be some people say like, oh, well, that's South Africa, right? That's a developing country without all the, you

So, Andrew, I'm going to turn back to you and the many decades that you have spent documenting how the global arms trade corrupts democratic practices.

We are seeing the role of artificial intelligence and all sorts of technological developments that are making warfare more deadly in many ways.

So it's estimated that the arms trade accounts for around 40% of all corruption in world trade.

And there are obviously geopolitical issues and policy issues that lead to war.

And a primary reason for that is that our political systems have become totally corrupted by the bribery and corruption in the arms trade.

So, you know, when, for instance, Britain sells weapons to Saudi Arabia or to Israel, it's not just the Saudi royal family or Netanyahu and those around him who benefit materially from that.

So warfare, conflict, has actually become an incredibly important part of funding our political processes in the so-called West.

The second thing, and these two are very interrelated, it's a sort of a chicken and egg situation, is that this means that the world in which we live today Our political leaders always favor conflict over diplomacy as a way of resolving differences.

I think another feature that is extremely important is the impunity with which the global arms trade operates.

We find ourselves in a world where this very corrupt trade is extremely dominant in our political processes, reinforces policies that favor conflict over diplomacy, and at the same time, Unfortunately, a lot of the key players in our political world are benefiting materially and personally, and there is virtually no recourse to the law, so that this incredibly secretive world has also become something like a legal planet in its own right, where the laws that apply to the rest of us don't seem to apply at all.

Andrew, you started off with the example of South Africa where bribes that were paid were then filtered into a political party.

Do you have any examples from Western context? How does it work? Because, you know, there might be some people say like, oh, well, that's South Africa, right? That's a developing country without all the, you
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