Military expenditures - dollar figure: $4.3 billion (FY99)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.3% (FY99)
@Argentina:Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: claims UK-administered Falkland Islands
(Islas Malvinas); claims UK-administered South Georgia and the South
Sandwich Islands; territorial claim in Antarctica
Illicit drugs: increasing use as a transshipment country for cocaine headed for Europe and the US; increasing use as a money-laundering center; domestic consumption of drugs has skyrocketed
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ARMENIA
@Armenia:Introduction
Background: An Orthodox Christian country, Armenia was incorporated into Russia in 1828 and the USSR in 1920. Armenian leaders remain preoccupied by the long conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a primarily Armenian-populated exclave, assigned to Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1920s by Moscow. Armenia and Azerbaijan began fighting over the exclave in 1988; the struggle escalated after both countries attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By May 1994, when a cease-fire took hold, Armenian forces held not only Nagorno-Karabakh but also a significant portion of Azerbaijan proper. The economies of both sides have been hurt by their inability to make substantial progress toward a peaceful resolution.
@Armenia:Geography