Category Archives: Weapons deals

Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Syria, Weapons deals, WMD

Syrian Air Defenses, Hezbollah Air Defenses……………

    

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“Syria has been arming and training Hezbollah fighters in the use of advanced antiaircraft weapons in recent months, Israel Defense Forces sources have told Haaretz. A senior officer in the Northern Command says hundreds of fighters were taught to use surface-to-air missiles in Syria and Iran. IDF officers are worried by two developments involving Syria and Hezbollah that could change the balance of power in the region. The first is the transfer of huge quantities of surface-to-air missiles; the second, the transfer of chemical and biological weapons. IDF officers believe that Hezbollah use of advanced antiaircraft missiles could jeopardize Israeli aerial supremacy……….”

Training is possible, in fact both Iran and Syria do it. However, supplying sophisticated weapons or WMD is doubtful (especially WMD). There are no doubt some sophisticated missiles supplied to Hezbollah by the Iranians but not by the Syrians (and certainly not WMD).


The Syrians don’t give away their somewhat sophisticated air defense systems, especially not to a Lebanese group. Any Lebanese group. Same applies even more to WMD: contrary to the Western (especially American) fear-mongering legend, Middle East regimes do not supply outsiders with WMD (or sophisticated conventional weapons).
Besides, the same air defense system failed the Syrians when the Israeli air force bombed the alleged nuclear plant (an odd story that has not been explained to the public in either Syria or Israel). Of course the Syrians may have been unwilling, too afraid, to use their air defenses; Hezbollah is certain to use them, if they have them, if Lebanon is attacked.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Politics, Iran, Syria, Terrorism, US Foreign Policy, Weapons deals, Yemen

Iran in Yemen and Syria: Quds Force vs. Qat Force, Plot in DC with Mexicans and Islamic Heritage Revival Society……

 

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““Iran is really trying to play a big role in Yemen now,” the Yemeni official said from his office in Sana, the country’s capital. American officials say the Iranian aid to Yemen — a relatively small but steady stream of automatic rifles, grenade launchers, bomb-making material and several million dollars in cash — mirrors the kind of weapons and training the Quds Force is providing the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. It also reflects a broader campaign that includes what American officials say was a failed plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States in October, and what appears to have been a coordinated effort by Iran to attack Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia earlier this year. Iran has denied any role in the attacks. “They’re fighting basically a shadow war every day,” Gen. James N. Mattis, the head of the military’s Central Command, told a Senate hearing last week. “They are working earnestly to keep Assad in power,” he said, explaining that in addition to arms and scores of Quds Force trainers and Iranian intelligence agents, Iran is providing the Syrian security services with electronic eavesdropping equipment “to try and pick up where the opposition networks are.”………..”

Fine and dandy, the mullahs are probably supplying some arms to a Yemeni faction. Yet I don’t buy the bit about supplying weapons to Syria. Not because they would not be happy to keep Bashar al-Assad in power; no doubt the Iranians are doing their best to keep the Baath regime in control. There is no need for Iranian arms. The Russians have a naval base in Syria, and the Black Sea is nearby, and the Russians make much better weapons than the Iranians, and the Russians have always supplied Syria and still do. So why would Bashar need mediocre Iranian weapons when he has access to better Russian ones? Ditto for the spying and communications equipment. (Unless there is a money/payment angle). The New York Times needs to make a better case for this.
As for the rehash of the so-called plot to blow Adle al-Jubair the Saudi ambassador to smithereens in an overpriced but mediocre Georgetown restaurant: I thought we had gone over that one and refuted the allegation. I recall even refuting any involvement of the Mexican drug cartels, drunk Texan used-car dealers named Jack, Colombian FARC rebels, Hezbollah, Society of Islamic Heritage Revival, the Nabati Poets Diwaniya, and Mitt Romney. This just makes no sense. The Saudi ambassador al-Jubair is not an important person, he makes no decisions or policies except when to have lunch or get a haircut. It is all decided by the princes.
As for the ‘Qat‘, it just popped up…….
Cheers
mhg


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Saudi Arabia, Weapons deals

Sweden Joins the Gulf GCC Weapons Bandwagon, Secretly………..

 

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“Sweden has in secret been helping Saudi Arabia plan the construction of an arms factory to produce anti-tank missiles, public broadcaster Swedish Radio reported Tuesday. The Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI) has helped Saudi Arabia since 2007, though construction on “Project Simoom” has yet to begin, the radio said citing hundreds of classified documents and interviews with key players. Sweden has in the past sold weapons to Saudi Arabia, but classified government documents state that Project Simoom “pushes the boundaries of what is possible for a Swedish authority,” the radio said. “The fact that an authority such as FOI is involved in the planning of a weapons factory for a government in a dictatorship such as Saudi Arabia is quite unique,” the radio said…………”


Maybe the Swedes, like the British and the Americans, are not aware of how repressive the Saudi regime is. Maybe they are not aware that only last year it invaded Bahrain to crush the people’s uprising. At least the Swedes are pretending to be embarrassed and they try doing it secretly. They agonize over it. The Western powers can’t get enough weapons deals out of the Persian Gulf states. If you think this is opportunistic, wait until they discover huge petroleum reserves in North Korea. 

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, GCC, Human Right, UAE, Weapons deals

Disgruntled Bins of a Feather: UAE in the Footsteps of Bahrain?………….

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“But it has tolerated little dissent during the regional upheaval, trying and sentencing at least five pro-reform activists and stripping the citizenship of another seven last year on charges that they represent a threat to state security. It also disbanded the elected boards of two of the UAE’s most prominent civil society groups, Human Rights Watch said. “Unfortunately, we saw last year that the United Arab Emirates decided to suppress freedom of expression in the country by harassing and trying a number of activists, and by attempting to limit freedom of association in the country,” HRW’S deputy Middle East head Nadim Houry told the conference. Subsequently a group of men dressed in traditional Emirati clothing burst into the conference and demanded it end because Human Rights Watch did not have a permit to host such an event. Attendees heard the men identify themselves as officials of the Ministry of Economy. They flashed an identification card, HRW researcher Samer Muscati, one of the conference’s organizers, told Reuters, but they could not see it long enough to determine who had issued it. “We speculate that these guys are not who they claim to be. They seem to be state security, not from the Ministry of Economy,” he said. Officials of the UAE Interior Ministry and the Dubai government’s press office declined to comment on the identity of the men…………..”

They are all the same, really. If they feel threatened by dissent, the Bin Technocrat Bin Zayed al-Nahayan act no different from the slimy Bin Technocrat al-Khalifa potentates of Bahrain. No different from the Bin Technocrat al-Saud princes. They crack down and arrest and gas and imprison and torture and, if they have to, they kill.
Why else do you think they are buying all these American JDAM bunker-busters? Did you thing it was to attack China or Iran or North Korea? No, it is to bunker-bust the shopping malls if they are ever taken over by irate citizens. Correct that: there are only about 12% or so in the UAE who are citizens” They can’t possibly fill a shopping mall. Only the citizens are entitled to feel disgruntled, if done silently. Citizens are allowed to be disgruntled silently only, but the almost 88% who are temporary foreign laborers are not allowed to be disgruntled even silently.
It is not clear how they monitor and prevent silent disgruntlement. They can’t just send their flunkies with ID’s to stop it. These security goons aren’t smart enough to tell who is disgruntled and who is not, especially when nobody is supposed to smile in public anyway.
Maybe the potentates have purchased some new equipment from the helpful Western government (possibly the eager British) or North Korea for that.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Bahrain, Britain, GCC, Saudi Arabia, Weapons deals

David Cameron as Gulf Mercenary, Potentates Impotent with Greed, and Judy Collins……….

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“Don’t you love farce?
My fault, I fear
I thought that you’d want what I want
Sorry, my dear.
But, where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns.
Don’t bother they’re here…….” Judy Collins (Send in the Clowns)

“The trouble is that Iran has won almost all its recent wars without firing a shot. George W and Tony destroyed Iran’s nemesis in Iraq. They killed thousands of the Sunni army whom Iran itself always referred to as “the black Taliban”. And the Gulf Arabs, our “moderate” friends, shiver in their golden mosques as we in the West outline their fate in the event of an Iranian Shia revolution. No wonder Cameron goes on selling weapons to these preposterous people whose armies, in many cases, could scarcely operate soup kitchens, let alone the billions of dollars of sophisticated kit we flog them under the fearful shadow of Tehran. Bring on the sanctions. Send in the clowns…………..”

This is what Fisk wrote, and it is worth a read. I suppose when he quoted Judy Collins “send in the clowns” he was referring to David Cameron. Cameron and his ministers have gone completely mercenary, just the way the Gulf potentates like their associates. They have thrown all pretenses at democracy and freedom to the wind as they fly to the dens of repression and despotism in Riyadh and Manama. And as they receive the bloody potentates at Downing Street. There is a matter of mutual interest: the British regime has its hand (or hat) extended for some of the oil money, while the potentates have their hands extended for the fat bribes commissions they would get from the weapons deals. They can always hire Pakistani or Western mercenaries to use these weapons, most likely on their own people, on our people.
(FYI: the Obama administration is no better. They are fully behind the repression in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, even as they falsely claim to support freedom and liberty. They must mean the freedom of these Arab regimes to repress their peoples, and the liberty of the potentates to loot their countries. And the liberty to sell weapons to regimes that will probably never know how to use them).
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Weapons deals

Saudis to Intensify Arms Race and Commission Race within the GCC…….

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What does the promise of New Saudi defense minister Prince Salamn to “improve” the Saudi armed forces also means, besides fat commissions for the princes? It means bad news for the potentates of the UAE. Now the oligarchs of Abu Dhabi will have to spend more money, try harder, to catch to the Saudis in terms of being the biggest importers of weapons. And in terms of bribes and commissions paid to the potentates and their retainers. It is a race between our Gulf potentates to see who, which dynasty, can fleece the people faster and more effectively than the others.
Cheers
mhg


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Corruption, GCC, Saudi Arabia, Weapons deals

Prince Salman to “Modernize” Saudi Military, Generate more Commissions for Princes………

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“Newly appointed Defense Minister Prince Salman assumed office on Saturday as the country’s chief of staff disclosed plans to modernize the armed forces and strengthen its combat capabilities in the face of growing challenges and dangers. Salman thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for the new appointment. “I take this opportunity to thank the king for bestowing his confidence in me,” he said and sought the Almighty’s help to carry out his duties in the best form. Addressing top army commanders and officers, the new minister also emphasized the need to strengthen the armed forces not only to defend the Kingdom but also to defend its holy places, its valuable resources and major achievements……..”

Oh oh: we all know what it means, all this talk about “modernize the armed forces and strengthen its combat capabilities “. More billions in weapons imports, which means, more important, more billions to Prince Salman and his kids. He probably figures that the last minister of defense late Prince Sultan and his sons have taken enough, reportedly to the tune of tens of billions in bribes and commissions and by “other means”. Now it is his, and his kids’, turn.
Cheers
mhg


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Arabian Peninsula, GCC, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, US Foreign Policy, Weapons deals

Gulf Arms Race: UAE JDAMS Bunker Busters, Bunkers of Sharjah and Fujairah……

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“The U.S. government may soon announce plans for a large sale of precision-guided bombs to the United Arab Emirates, a source familiar with the arms sales plans said late on Thursday, as tensions mounted with Iran over its nuclear program. The Pentagon is considering a significant sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions made by Boeing Co, adding to other recent arms deals with the UAE. These include the sale of 500 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles about which U.S. lawmakers were notified in September. The sale of Boeing-built “bunker-buster” bombs and other munitions to UAE, a key Gulf ally, is part of an ongoing U.S. effort to build a regional coalition to counter Iran. No comment was immediately available from the Pentagon’s press office or the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees foreign arms sales. Boeing has sold thousands of JDAM bombs to the United States and its allies in recent months as they have replenished their arsenal of the popular precision-guided bombs……….”

The Unit Arab Emirates claims to have almost 1 million citizens (the rest are temporary foreign laborers, housemaids, gardeners, doctors, bankers, mercenaries, etc). There are opinions that the actual number is much less than one million. The absolute oligarchy of the UAE has been in a tough arms race, no not with Iran, but with the rival absolute tribal princes of Saudi Arabia. For several years they were the second biggest importers of weapons in the whole wide wonderful world. Last year the Saudis moved to number one and the Abu Dhabi potentates were threatened with being relegated to number two (no pun intended here). Now they are trying to catch up with the al-Saud in terms of weapons imports, and coincidentally in terms of bribes commissions that the potentates and their retainers receive.
The UAE already has American F-16 fighters that are capable of carrying JDAMS bunker busters. It is not clear why the shaikhs of the UAE want JDAMS bunker busters, and whose bunkers they might want to bust. Nobody is likely to want to attack them, not even the shaikhs of Bahrain. The Iranians most likely are concerned with bigger fish, like the Americans or the Israelis. Besides, who is going to use all these sophisticated weapons? They can keep borrowing personnel from Pakistan, or maybe even train some humorless Jordanians. Or maybe they can train their new mercenary security legion headed by Blackwater veterans and manned by Colombians, Australians, white South Africans and others.
Either way, it is not clear whose bunkers these Abu Dhabi shaikhs want to bust. Hopefully not the bunkers of Sharjah or Fujairah.
Cheers
mhg


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Gulf states, Iran, Persian-American Gulf, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran, Weapons deals

Irony of Smug Western Arrogance: Iranian Navy a Danger to the “Persian” Gulf………………….

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“While much of the world’s attention focuses on Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran has made considerable progress on another security front in recent years — steadily increasing the reach and lethality of its naval forces. The goal by 2025, if all goes as the country has planned, is to have a navy that can deploy anywhere within a strategic triangle from the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea to the Strait of Malacca. Should such plans materialize — and Iran is making steady progress — Tehran would redraw the strategic calculus of an already volatile region. The Persian Gulf is home to some of the world’s most valuable supply lines, routes that are vital to the global energy supply. In the last few years, Iran has invested heavily in a domestic defense industry that now has the ability to produce large-scale warships, submarines, and missiles. Since the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, Iran has largely pursued a strategy of deterrence……………”

The title of this piece in Foreign Affairs is an example of true Western smug arrogance: “Iran’s Navy Threatens the Security of the Persian Gulf”. Something is not kosher about this analysis. The Iranian navy in the “Persian” Gulf, in its own backyard, is considered a danger to peace. Foreign Western navies cluttering my Gulf, thousands of miles (or kilometers) from their home territory, are considered normal, elements to stability. Yet all the major wars of our region in the past four decades were either started or instigated by the West and its regional allies. The Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) was started by Saddam’s invasion of his neighbor, and encouraged by the West and some Arab potentates on the Persian-American Gulf. The Persian Gulf War (1990-91) was started by Saddam of Iraq, armed to the teeth by the West and his Arab allies (his former Arab allies and suppliers whom he turned against). The invasion of Iraq (2003) was engineered by Saddam’s former Western allies and supported by his former Arab allies.
If the Iranian navy is a danger to the Persian Gulf, is the U.S. navy a danger to the Gulf of Mexico? Is the French navy a danger to the Mediterranean?

I hate to repeat the mantra of the Iranian theocrats, but this type of “analysis” reeks of Western arrogance, of  a smug sense of entitlement to enter others’ backyards and own them.
Cheers
mhg


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Gulf states, Iran, Persian-American Gulf, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran, Weapons deals

Irony of Smug Western Arrogance: Iranian Navy a Danger to the “Persian” Gulf………………….

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“While much of the world’s attention focuses on Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran has made considerable progress on another security front in recent years — steadily increasing the reach and lethality of its naval forces. The goal by 2025, if all goes as the country has planned, is to have a navy that can deploy anywhere within a strategic triangle from the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea to the Strait of Malacca. Should such plans materialize — and Iran is making steady progress — Tehran would redraw the strategic calculus of an already volatile region. The Persian Gulf is home to some of the world’s most valuable supply lines, routes that are vital to the global energy supply. In the last few years, Iran has invested heavily in a domestic defense industry that now has the ability to produce large-scale warships, submarines, and missiles. Since the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, Iran has largely pursued a strategy of deterrence……………”

The title of this piece in Foreign Affairs is an example of true Western smug arrogance: “Iran’s Navy Threatens the Security of the Persian Gulf”. Something is not kosher about this analysis. The Iranian navy in the “Persian” Gulf, in its own backyard, is considered a danger to peace. Foreign Western navies cluttering my Gulf, thousands of miles (or kilometers) from their home territory, are considered normal, elements to stability. Yet all the major wars of our region in the past four decades were either started or instigated by the West and its regional allies. The Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) was started by Saddam’s invasion of his neighbor, and encouraged by the West and some Arab potentates on the Persian-American Gulf. The Persian Gulf War (1990-91) was started by Saddam of Iraq, armed to the teeth by the West and his Arab allies (his former Arab allies and suppliers whom he turned against). The invasion of Iraq (2003) was engineered by Saddam’s former Western allies and supported by his former Arab allies.
If the Iranian navy is a danger to the Persian Gulf, is the U.S. navy a danger to the Gulf of Mexico? Is the French navy a danger to the Mediterranean?

I hate to repeat the mantra of the Iranian theocrats, but this type of “analysis” reeks of Western arrogance, of  a smug sense of entitlement to enter others’ backyards and own them
Cheers
mhg


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