I mean it's a pretty academic question. Do the merchants of war drive global conflict, or are they necessary for national defense? Or is the issue more nuanced?

Russia historically makes up about half the world's arms trade. Though that has declined in recent years due to Ukraine. So who is the chicken and who is the egg?

Fwiw, I tend to agree that arms manufacturers do play a role in driving global conflict, but it's also clearly A responding to B and B responding to A.

Dunno about China but surely AKs being the small arms of choice for many countries, rebles, freedom fighters, terrorists and partisans of every flavour must put Kalashnikov Concern pretty high up there.