Posted on 01/12/2005 2:50:05 PM PST by anotherview
U.S. demands Russia cancel proposed missile sale to Syria
By Haaretz Service
An Iskander-E missile, which Russia plans to sell to Syria. (Archive)
The United States is demanding Russia cancel its proposed sale of missiles to Syria, warning that it will consider imposing sanctions against Moscow should the deal go ahead, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.
A State Department spokesperson made the administration's stance public a short time before Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the administration is opposed to weapons sales to Damascus, and that its position was well known to Moscow.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov visited Israel on Wednesday and discussed with government officials a recent crisis between Moscow and Jerusalem over reported Russian plans to sell Syria missiles capable of striking targets within Israel.
The details of the crisis were reported Wednesday in the Moscow daily Kommersant.
Saltanov, who arrived in Israel on Tuesday, met with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Vice Premier Shimon Peres and senior Foreign Ministry officials.
According to the report, the Iskander-E missile has a target radius capable of reaching nearly all of Israel, including the nuclear reactor site outside Dimona.
Only the southern Negev and Eilat would be out of range.
Israeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have expressed concern that the missiles would get into the hands of Hezbollah and disrupt the military balance in the Middle East.
The Russian daily reported that Israel recalled its ambassador in Russia over the deal.
The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted to the publication Wednesday, and said there was no crisis in Israel-Russia relations.
Israel has briefed the American administration on the crisis in its relations with Russia. Israel did not ask the United States to intervene, even though the Americans have dealt with this matter in the past.
Consultations held by the political echelon in Jerusalem resulted in a decision to attempt to solve the matter through direct talks with Moscow, and not to get help from the U.S. for the time being.
Meanwhile, tension is mounting in Jerusalem ahead of Syrian President Bashar Assad's first visit to Moscow, on January 24. Assad will meet with President Vladimir Putin and discuss bilateral cooperation in various fields. Putin is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush about a month later in Slovakia.
The Kommersant report was based on recent Haaretz accounts of a severe crisis in relations between the Sharon and Putin governments.
The Iskander is a relatively new weapons systems, having been developed in the 1990s. Two years ago, Damascus sought to purchase 18 of the systems, but the matter was delayed by final testing of the missile. The tests were completed in August.
Rumors of cause of crisis As reported in Haaretz last week, the crisis in Israeli-Russian relations was the focus of a special meeting that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened 10 days ago with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the heads of the intelligence community. The meeting ended with the Foreign Ministry being assigned to take charge of reviewing the matter and suggesting ways of resolving the problem.
A first discussion took place early this week at the Foreign Ministry, with representatives of all relevant branches in attendance, but no recommendations have been submitted yet to the political echelon.
Political sources in Jerusalem Tuesday denied the Channel 2 news report that the reason for the diplomatic crisis is Putin's anger over alleged intervention in the Ukrainian elections by people in Israel, and their support for his political rivals. The political sources said the problem stemmed from something completely different which concerns Russia's conduct.
Syria is not an islamic country, while it is predominently muslim, it is run by socialists who are mostly atheists. Many Christians hold positions in the government. Like it or not, the same was true of Iraq (I'm not excusing Sodamn's insane crap) but now Christians in Iraq, who were once 10% of the population were given one ministry: immigration. Most are taking the hint and are getting out. So today, Iraq is more islamic then it was before. This is very unfortunet and is not getting much play from anyone (but they're Christians so who cares, right?)
Russia also sells weapons and oil to Israel and they lost the Egyptian and Jordanian and PLO markets to us. We supply Egypt with M1A1s and the same for the Jordanians and Saudies. State last week announced a little tax payer gift to the PLO of another $20 million, on top of the $60 million from last year. Gee, so nice of them to give a gift on my account. /sarcasm
Considering those are not anti-air missiles, it would do little to disparage their value if fighters blow them up. They are a land to land weapon system.
Jan. 13, 2005 1:32 | Updated Jan. 13, 2005 4:56
Russian missile sale to Syria worries Israel, US
By HERB KEINON
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Israel anticipates that the US will use its leverage to help scuttle a Russian arms deal to Syria because of concern that sophisticated missiles would be smuggled into Iraq and endanger American troops there, senior diplomatic officials said Wednesday.
After two weeks of whispers and rumors about a crisis in Israeli-Russian ties, Israeli officials confirmed that the disagreement was over a large weapons deal to Syria that reportedly includes the Igla SA-18, among the most sophisticated shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles on the market, and the Iskander-E ground-to-ground missiles.
Syrian President Bashar Assad is scheduled to visit Moscow on January 24 to sign the deal, the first major Russian weapons deal to Syria in more than a decade.
At the same time, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov on Wednesday dismissed reports that Russia had agreed to supply the missiles to Syria, but he left open the possibility. There are no restrictions on transfer of missiles of such ranges, Ivanov said.
The US came out publicly on Wednesday against the sale and said Washington would consider sanctions against Russia if it went ahead with the deal.
"We've seen the reports of the sale. US policy on this is very clear. We're against the sale of weaponry to Syria, against the sale of lethal military equipment to Syria, which is a state sponsor of terrorism. We think those kinds of sales are not appropriate. The Russians know about this policy.
They know about our views," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Asked what type of action the US might consider if Russia went ahead with the deal, Boucher said, "There are potential sanctions under US law. But that would have to be looked at if and when such a sale should occur."
US Secretary of State Colin Powell was scheduled to meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov later Wednesday in Washington.
Sources in Washington familiar with the discussions said Israel had raised the planned sale with American officials and expressed concern about it. It was not clear, however, when the matter was discussed or at what level.
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington, David Segal, said, "The reports [of the sale] are disturbing and of concern. We raise issues that have a strategic significance with the administration on an ongoing basis."
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, when asked by reporters about the matter Wednesday, said only, "We have close contacts with the Russians. We had consultations over the past few days, and we hope to reach the necessary agreement."
Shalom met Tuesday with visiting Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov and relayed to Moscow Israel's concern over the sale.
Officials in Jerusalem said Russia's interest in the deal stems from an effort to reassert its influence in the region. "For 30 years, Russia was involved in the Middle East on the basis of its giving away of weapons to the Syrians," one senior official said. "This is a way to again become a major player."
The official said Syria owes Russia some $8 billion for previous arms deals. This time, the official said, the Russians are demanding cash payment, and the expectation is that Iran will pay the bill.
Israel is concerned that the sale of the weapons could alter the strategic balance in the region, and is fearful of the prospect that the lightweight SA-18 could fall into the hands of the Hizbullah or other terrorist groups and be used to down Israeli aircraft.
Israeli officials said Jerusalem has been trying to solve the problem through quiet diplomatic channels for the last couple of weeks, maintaining tight secrecy regarding the reason for tense ties with Moscow.
How have you come to the conclusion that this is because of Yushcenko?
I can hardly wait to hear this latest creation.
If im not mistaken,Syria & Indonesia don't share any border with Russia & Indonesia doesn't not operate Mig-29s.
But I do understand your point about the logic for these actions-slight problem is that you should also think about similar American actions.F-16 Blk 60s for the UAE,new F-16s & possibly AWACS for Pakistan,PAC-3 missiles for Saudi Arabia & Egypt...I can go on & on .Inshort,America arms as many Slammics as Russia does,only difference being that the ones who buy Western weaponry are American stooges.
I don't think the SA-18 would a big threat if you're talking about using it against attack helos or warplanes.In the hands of a terrorist,it's another ballgame altogether.In 2000,when Ehud Barak made peace overtures to Syria,it was reported that Damascus had sought to purchase the S-300 SAM system.If that deal went ahead,it would have led to Israel radically altering it's strategies.
Are you saying that this was the motive? Why do you think so?
BTW, what is free about the elections when in some districts the vote for Yushchenko was approaching 97% and large groups of people were prevented from voting (like retired and diabled)?
She is not a Russia expert - she is a SOVIET expert trained during the Cold War. So she will try to bring Cold War back.
Iranians are Shiites who are friendly to Russia (support for Wahabi Islamists in Chechnya come from Saudi Arabia and Georgia). Syria is the main remaining Arab secularist where the Christians have the most rights and freedoms.
How many churches are in Saudi Arabia or Turkey?
Another false Cold War myth. These prophesies were not intended to describe the events more than 2000 years later, they were related to Persians, Greeks, Anatolians etc of their time.
I think it's a good part of the motive. The reason I think so is that we were unusually assertive in a place that we have traditionally left the Russians alone to deal with as they wish. Ultimately we supported a free election because we support freedom, but let's face it... we don't hold this standard consistently. What explains why Ukraine why now? Russian behavior provides what I judge to be the best explanation.
We didn't support free elections in Azerbajan, but the dictator's son (by the way Aliev a former KGB Internal Affairs General -- the people who shot people) worked well for the CIA so his son was allowed to cheat to get "elected". There were massive protests.
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