Israel moves closer to hook-up with NATO

UPI ^ | 2/1/2010 | UPI

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Israel's armed forces are adopting NATO's system of identifying and classifying equipment among its member nations, underlining Israel's buildup of ties with the Atlantic alliance.

For years, Israel has kept NATO at arm's length to preserve the Jewish state's strategic independence while it confronts its Middle Eastern adversaries.

The adoption of the NATO Codification System may seem a modest move, but it's an important institutional step toward strengthening links with the Western alliance, which now has 28 members.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Israel actually signed an agreement adopting the NCS in 2006, but it only recently began switching its stock-numbering to the NATO Stock Number.

This is a 13-digit numeric code that the alliance uses to identify everything in its inventory, from weapons systems to spare parts and computers.

"This will be beneficial for us in terms of cooperation and procurement and will also help Israeli defense industries sell their products to ANTO member countries," a Logistics Corps officer explained.

Israel's ties with NATO have grown considerably of late. Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, the chairman of NATO's Military Committee, visited Israel in November -- despite U.N. allegations of war crimes committed during Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip last winter -- to study tactics that could be of value for alliance troops fighting in Afghanistan.

[JasonC]

Since neither is willing to do anything about Iran, who cares? They are clearly all moral cowards. Where they all choose to have tea as they surrender is quite irrelevant.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

You are forgetting something. The United States can lease bases inside Israel for fighter jets/bombers.We can pull the B-61’s nuclear bombs from Turkey and store them at Israeli bases.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

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[JasonC]

The US doesn't need anything, from Israel or anybody else, and can destroy the government of Iran any time it wants. Has been able to continually since 1979, and without any fear of Russia intervention since 1991 at the latest.

But the US hasn't done a damn thing about Iran, because everyone in the west is a coward. When nothing much was on the line, that could be excused; when Iran getting nukes is on the line, it will not be. By justice or history.

Facts are stubborn things.

[dervish]

Israel should stay the heck away. NATO isn’t worth jacksh**.