ARMS CA$H Lost in the Hall of Mirrors

‘Arms Cash’ is Ralph Houston’s non-fictional account of the international Defense Industry in action as seen through his own eyes. During his unique career, Houston worked as Defense equipment Buyer, served operationally in UK and Oman Land Forces, and represented American, British, French and Canadian Defense Companies to Governments in over thirty countries.

‘Arms Cash’ charts Houston’s travels from Singapore to Seattle, from Harare to Kharkov and from Riyadh to Rawalpindi as a Corporate Sales foot-soldier pursuing lucrative contracts. He describes the lure of illicit ‘Arms Cash’ commissions to Companies and covert Agents alike, recalling encounters with exotic, dangerous people and contextualizing his traveller’s tales with accounts of major world-corrupting events. Houston reflects too on the eye-watering waste of Taxpayers’ cash, the institutionalized form of ‘Arms Cash’.

In ‘Arms Cash’ Houston describes a world of international travel, of clandestine meetings and deals; a world slipping beyond control. He recalls the chilling encounter in Ukraine which finally confronted, challenged and changed his hardened ‘mission-focused’ attitude to the Arms Trade. ‘Arms Cash’ is awash with traveller’s tales, covert deals and military memories, but at the beating dark heart of the book remains Arms Cash itself, the international currency of corruption.