Word: czechoslovakias
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Trick question: What country is the world's leading arms manufacturer -- in per capita terms? Hint: it's not any of the big five in the arms business (the U.S., the Soviet Union, France, Britain and China). The answer: Czechoslovakia...
With 111 factories churning out weaponry ranging from AK-47s to L-39 Albatros jet trainers, Czechoslovakia has been producing more than $800 annually per citizen, vs. $700 for the U.S. But with a dissident playwright as President and a mandate to undo the past, Czechoslovakia's postcommunist government is determined to dismantle the country's arms industry. President Vaclav Havel has ruefully noted that Czechoslovakia sent Libya enough Semtex plastic explosives in the '70s and early '80s to keep the world's terrorists supplied for the next 150 years. Just two months after the November 1989 revolution, Foreign Minister...
...that the economy is going through the painful transition from communism to capitalism, Czechoslovakia is learning how hard it is to shut down such an important industry. As many as 80,000 jobs, the bulk of them in the restive and depressed region of Slovakia, depend on it. The federal government has pledged to cut output to 25% of 1988 levels by 1993, but already Slovak politicians have slowed down that timetable to stave off mass unemployment. Last month federal Prime Minister Marian Calfa took a scolding from his Israeli counterpart, Yitzhak Shamir, over a still pending agreement to sell...
...biggest loss for Slovakia's arms plants has been in exports to Warsaw Pact countries. Sales to the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia's biggest customer, plummeted by 40% last year, and are falling off even more steeply this year...
...drop in East bloc sales makes the industry more dependent on exports to the Third World, but political and economic developments are cutting off those markets as well. U.S. officials have joined Israel in condemning the sale to Syria. The deal also set off a fierce struggle within Czechoslovakia between government officials who want to bolster the nation's international reputation and others who think the agreement could help bridge the gap until the industry retools for nonmilitary production. Says Slovak Prime Minister Jan Carnogursky: "We've asked the federal government to clear the matter up and persuade complaining governments...