We are in the midst of a global financial crisis with public services being cut on a unprecendented scale. Yet the arms trade is flourishing. December's New Internationalist magazine puts the arms trade into the line of fire, revealing an industry awash with corruption and greed.

To find out more, read these articles in the latest issue of New Internationalist (now available from our shop as well as by subscription):

Anxieties of Influence: The arms industry tends to have government's ears. Why, wonders Dinyar Godrej, when it is so counter-productive?

Arms trades - THE FACTS

Washington's white elephant: William D Hartung on the world's most expensive (pretty obsolete) combat aircraft and the unholy battle to keep producing it

The shadow world: Andrew Feinstein examines the corrupt networks of arms deals. His own political career got choked in one.

Rise of the drones: The Terminator tendency to the fore as countries rush to acquire weapons can be steered from half a world away. Chris Cole reports.