The Rise of the Modern Arms Black Market and the Fall of Supply-Side Control

Four decades after the Second World War, a world divided between antagonistic nuclear superpowers eemed largely at peace.1&2 To be sure, there were flare-ups - civil wars, insurrections and border clashes - some of them highly destructive of life and property. But each one seemed exceptional in cause, remarkable in effect and, in the minds of the citizens of the major powers, relegated to faraway places.