Foreign investment has dried up. Tourists have stayed away. Instead, arms dealers flock to Asmara. Russian pilots have flown in tons of weapons in unmarked planes. Cargo ships carry loads of artillery into the port of Assab.
Diplomats wonder how one of the poorest countries in the world found the money.
While President Isaias Afwerki, the only president Eritrea has known, retains great popularity, some Eritreans and Western observers find fault with how his government operates with little outside input. There is a high degree of secrecy here, with the government expecting the country's new media voices to exercise restraint in their criticisms. So far, they have. But when the war ends, questions are likely to emerge, analysts say. There will be questions about how Eritrea and Ethiopia started this war, which on the surface has been over land of little use.