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Lord Of War
''Lord of War'' is a 2005 American crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Andrew Niccol, and co-produced by and starring Nicolas Cage. The film was released in the United States on September 16, 2005, to positive reviews and grossed $72.6 million at the box office. Cage plays a fictional illegal arms dealer, inspired by the stories of several real-life arms dealers and smugglers, primarily Viktor Bout. The film was officially endorsed by the human rights group Amnesty International for highlighting the issue of illicit arms trafficking by the international arms industry. Plot In the early 1980s, Yuri Orlov, the eldest son of a family of Ukrainian refugees, is visiting a Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York, restaurant where he witnesses a Russian mobster kill two would-be assassins holding Kalashnikov rifles. The incident inspires him to go into the arms trade. Yuri muses that the constant need for weapons is similar to the human need for food and drink, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arms Trafficking
Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small arms, unlike other organized crime commodities, is more closely associated with exercising power in communities instead of achieving economic gain. Scholars estimate illegal arms transactions amount to over US$1 billion annually. To keep track of imports and exports of several of the most dangerous armament categories, the United Nations, in 1991, created a Register for Conventional Arms. Participation, however, is not compulsory, and lacks comprehensive data in regions outside of Europe. Africa, due to a prevalence of corrupt officials and loosely enforced trade regulations, is a region with extensive illicit arms activity. In a resolution to complement the Register with legally binding obligations, a Firearms Protocol was incorporated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
