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A new record is expected to be set this year with global military spending up to an estimate $1.06 trillion. This would be a new record that breaks the old record of $1.03 trillion set back in the final years of the cold war, 1988. The report, released by Oxfam International, noted that after the cold war ended, military spending worldwide started to see a rapid decline until 1999 when it began to rise steadily once again. Oxfam International compiled the information from arms spending figures compiled annually by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute at the behest of several countries who are trying to push the UN into enacting a treaty that will put a ban on arms dealing to countries that plan to use them for genocide, human rights abuses or U.N. arms embargo violations. The UN will vote on the treaty next month and if it meets approval, it could be adopted by the general assembly as soon as 2008.

World military budget tops Cold War record: Oxfam (Reuters)