The post Cold War period: “what do we do with arms ?”

A few weeks after the above statement by Gomez, a cease-fire was signed by Iran and Iraq – but Thomson did not “go under”. And this company (most of whose turnover comes from the sale of arms ) as well as many others, visibly managed to find other “markets”. France, depending on the period, is number 2 or 3 on the World arms selling market. And one better understands why when one looks at the incredibly active role played by the whole State administration in this process.

In 1984, in a “confidential defense” note published in national newspaper Le Monde on 19 January in 1984, the Délégué Général à L’Armement/ General Director of Armaments of the French Ministry of Defense asked his Director of International Affairs to study external markets more closely in order to “re-define areas and countries on which to focus our efforts ; to forecast re-orientations to be given so to ensure a more balanced distribution of our sales ; to discuss better ways to tackle this market with a maximum of efficiency (financial backing, commercial networks”.

No, despite appearances, it is not a strategic plan designed by a consulting firm to boost a computer company’s export sales! It really is top secret classified guidelines to boost arms sales when the international tensions between East and West blocks started to decrease. If we weed the administrative encrypted language out of this note, its real meaning makes the blood run cold.

In other words, it requests:

1. To locate countries and geographical areas in which current or potential conflicts are present.

2. To find new clients even if “re-orientations” need to be applied (would a “ re-orientation” turn a potential conflict into an actual conflict?).

3. To set up a business machine using marketing or less conventional means to win market shares at any price.