That has given birth to many private and not-so-private flame wars.

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And all of the services are finding themselves in bidding wars with the private sector for certain types of specialists such as cyber-security experts.

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With the end of the cold war, millions of Soviet weapons came on to the market, undercutting the profits of private dealers, while a number of wars fostered by the superpowers fizzled out.

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This is the private sector institutional backdrop to the evolving currency wars.

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In such circumstances, it was impossible for a large private-sector defense industry to exist, so most military production between wars was conducted in government shipyards and depots.

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Schering Corporation was nationalized by the U.S. government during World Wars I and II, and in 1952, the company passed into the private sector.

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Robert McKeon, chief of New York private equity firm Veritas Capital, is on the verge of exiting the most lucrative deal of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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