Posted on 10/10/2006 5:21:08 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
During 2001 alone, according to Jane's Defense International, Belarus secretly delivered weapons worth more than $500 million, including Katyusha rockets, 120mm mortars, antitank rockets and mines, to Palestinian militants and countries including Syria and Iran.
Even after Sept. 11, 2001, Belarus not only continued to sell its impressive stockpile of weapons inherited from the breakup of the Soviet Union to almost all of the countries on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism - including North Korea, Sudan, Iran and Syria - but has defied Washington in doing so.
Belarus's president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, has not even attempted to conceal his assistance to Syria in modernizing its military capability - and that of Hezbollah. "No matter how severely we are admonished for it," he said, "we will continue to help Syria militarily because they have promised to help us in the same way."
If anything, Lukashenko seems to relish his role of international outlaw. With his relations with the West at rock bottom, it seems he feels he has nothing to lose. The only significant source of potential pressure on Belarus is Russia, its neighbor, but the Kremlin continues to prop up Lukashenko - not only so that Belarus remains within Moscow's orbit, but also because the country is a willing and convenient middleman, selling many Russian weapons to disreputable countries that even the Kremlin does not want to be associated with.
Over the past decade, the United States has made minimal effort in trying to convince Russia to rein in Belarus's rogue arms deals. Moscow has not only refused to cooperate with Washington in this regard but has actually increased its military cooperation with Belarus.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
How sweet. The two governments deserve each other.
I feel sorry for the innocent people.
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