Finland 'finds Patriot missiles' on China-bound ship

BBC News ^ | 12/21/11 | BBC

[WellyP]

We made Drudge this morning.

[af_vet_rr]

Anybody know if they have the command-and-control hardware and whether they are first generation or later? Without the support infrastructure, they are incredibly useless. If they are first generation, they are pretty useless.

If they were being shipped with the support infrastructure, that would be incredibly worrisome.

[MindBender26]

Missiles have serial numbers!

Some guys with big guns, badges and bad attitudes ought to be ALLLLLL over this!

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for that tidbit. 2004 no less.

I didn’t even notice the sites from atop the Acropolis recently. :-)

[wolf78]

Apparently, the missiles were destined for South Korea, NOT China. Germany exports lots of military stuff to South Korea, BTW a key US ally in the region. At the moment of the incident, the Patriot missiles were on a Danish ship and were property of South Korea. According to the German government the export contract stated that after leaving the port at Emden transportation was South Korea's responsibility.

Source:http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,805425,00.html (for those not fluent in German, try Google for a translation)

My interpretation: South Korea probably wanted to discretely stock up on Patriots in light of the current security situation over there and someone f****d up the transportation.

[Texas Fossil]

Chinese offered “top dollar” to the Paks, new Lybian “leadership” or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt?

All Obozo’s buddies.

69 Patriots to the right terrorists could be very significant.

[Texas Fossil]

Anyone remember this story?

—

“China’s action troubles admiral”

The Washington Times ^ | 11-28-07 | Bill Gertz

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1931824/posts

“China’s refusal to allow U.S. warships to visit Hong Kong recently was carried out to protest U.S. sales of Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan, Bush administration officials said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the senior commander in the Pacific called China’s action “troubling” and inconsistent with Beijing’s claim to being a “peaceful” power.

“This is perplexing,” said Adm. Timothy J. Keating via video from Honolulu. “It’s not helpful. It is not, in our view, conduct that is indicative of a country who understands its obligations of a responsible nation.”

The four-star admiral said he doubted that “we’ll receive an apology from the Chinese. I’m not expecting one.””

[wolf78]

Latest info: Contract between Germany and South Korea dates back to 2007, sale of surplus equipment.

Main reason for the incident: Translation error in the papers (I guess somewhere between German, English, Finnish and Korean missiles turned into fireworks).