Posted on 11/22/2009 5:00:24 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Tensions over Iran's nuclear programme have spurred an arms race in the Gulf with record defence deals being negotiated.
Saudi Arabia, long the major arms-buyer in the region, is now being overtaken by relative minnows such as the United Arab Emirates as they share their neighbour's fear of the growing military strength of their Shia neighbour.
Iran yesterday began a week-long military exercise to test its readiness against missile attack. The exercise was overtly intended as a message to Israel that any attack on its nuclear programme would be met with strong resistance.
"If the enemy wants to test its bad luck and fire a missile into Iran, before the dust settles, Iran's ballistic missiles will target the heart of Tel Aviv," Mojtaba Zolnour, an aide to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said.
But Gulf states believe Iran's main strategic aim is to become the dominant power in the oil-rich region. As the West shows itself unable to prevent Iran developing its nuclear programme, they are determined to arm themselves.
The refusal by Iran to agree a deal to send most of its enriched uranium abroad would only spur arms sales further, said Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.
"The threat perception is definitely about Iran," he said.
Arms companies were in buoyant mood at last week's Dubai air show particularly in comparison to the civilian air industry, which is suffering from a credit crunch-induced slump in passenger numbers.
BAE Systems, Britain's biggest arms manufacturer, is currently delivering to Saudi Arabia an order for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, which it makes as part of a European consortium.
Defence spending in the kingdom is projected to rise from $43.52 billion this year (pounds 26.17 billion) to $47.4 billion (pounds 28.5billion) in
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“does not look good” ping
As the West shows itself unable to prevent Iran developing its nuclear programme, they are determined to arm themselves.
So the Arabs are arming themselves with 3rd tier western conventional toys while Persia is going nuclear. Don’t really get it.
Iran is an ultra-conservative republic, unlike most of its socialist neighbors, with no history of territorial expansion, unlike most of its socialist neighbors. Conservatives generally believe that only the police having guns is dangerous. Only the police govenments and their friends having nuclear weapons is probably dangerous too.
The Khomeinist ideology calls for nothing less than the overthrow of all governments in the islamic world in favor of "the islamic republic". BTW the neigbours, Turkey, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and Pakistan are hardly "socialist" and they are also republics. And the Arab monarchies across the gulf have extensive welfare states, due to their immense oil wealth, but "socialist" as in commie? Please... Little sense your post makes.
The Gulf Arabs don't even dream about getting off their rears. If the sh*t hits the fan they will expect the US to save their rears.
The Sheikhs are merely buying expensive toys... with maybe a little bit of "deterrence" effect.
Unless they can produce a lot of atomic bombs (I don't see signs Ahmadinejad is going for fusion weaponry, "only" fission) Iran can hurt but not kill -- and thus bring on itself a lot of grief from more highly-targeted conventional weapons.
If my assumption is wrong, please disregard this post.
Persia, like the vast majority of empires, has been quiescent in periods of weakness, and expansive in periods of strength.
To paint the Khomeinist islamic regime, which is ruling Iran by force since 30 years, as a benign, pacific and "conservative" (it's infact fundamentalist-revolutionary... a islamist emulation of the Soviet model) is a ridiculous attempt at revisionism.
Conservative Shiism was in favor of the monarchy. Not the Pahlavi monarchy in particular, but monarchy in principle. There is no "Republic" in Shia Islam. That's why the Shia clergy opposed a Pahlavi Republic in 1924. They wanted to keep the previous Qajar dynasty, so Prime Minister Reza Khan founded a new Dynasty, instead of a Republic (as he intended).
The concept of an "islamic republic" was a radical novelty of the late 1960's and 70's, under the influence of "islamic marxism" and other socialist/fascist political models.
Except for medieval laws there is nothing that could be described as "conservative" (least of it in the Western meaning) about the current mullah regime.
Why is the West selling this stuff to them? It’s not like the Arab states actually have the military power, even with this stuff, to defeat Iran. They’re just trying to catch up in “prestige” with Iran by buying this stuff, and maybe secretly hoping it will make Iran think twice about threatening them. When Saddam invaded Kuwait the Saudis asked us to save their butts and they’ll do the same with Iran. Selling weapons to Arab states really does nothing beneficial.
No logical military sense but tons of commercial sense for the arms industries of many nations who vie to sell weapons to anyone and everyone who can pay.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.