If Russian Arms Exports Falter, Will China Fill the Vacuum?

Different missiles attached to Russian warplanes are on display during the opening day of the annual air show MAKS 2017 in Zhukovsky, Russia, on July 18, 2017. Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

In the 2005 film “Lord of War,” an arms dealer (played by Nicolas Cage) argued that armaments had become one of Russia’s biggest exports since the end of the Cold War. “After that,” he said, “comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars.”