Word: zaharoff
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...very notion of "public" in the mind of most library users. But the prevailing mood is still one of gratitude. A few days ago, Sidney Carroll, 66, a television writer and a library addict, leaned back from his notes on the turn-of-the-century Arms Tycoon Basil Zaharoff and reflected aloud: "One of the reasons I live in New York is this library. I love this room. It's hot, but not too much. The types outside the library have changed, but the caliber in side doesn...
...sophisticated communications network, the companies employed "agents." bagmen who, for exorbitant fees, greased palms and took advantage of contacts. Kermit Roosevelt, Teddy's grandson who engineerred a coup for the benefit of the present Shah of Iran, was merely following the example set 65 years ago by Sir Basil Zaharoff. The arms market flourished in this past era, when the industrialized nations traded amongst each other as well as exploiting the undeveloped countries. By "gingering up" a few Chilean generals or instigating a local war between Arab chieftains, Zaharoff claimed to have sold "more arms than anyone else...
...still deal in original sin," says a European arms trader. That somewhat mystical remark typifies the reputation of the arms trade, both within and without its own ranks. Arms salesmen apparently can never quite get over the fact that they are the heirs of Sir Basil Zaharoff, the archetypal death merchant who gave the trade its bad name. Bribing, cheating, lying fluently in eight languages and playing upon nations' fears of their neighbors, Zaharoff-as chief salesman for Britain's Vickers company-amassed a huge fortune by selling weapons to both sides in the Boer War, Balkan conflicts...