Posted on 03/06/2012 7:39:30 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Sweden 'helping plan secret arms factory in Saudi'
STOCKHOLM — Sweden has in secret been helping Saudi Arabia plan the construction of an arms factory to produce anti-tank missiles, public broadcaster Swedish Radio reported Tuesday.
The Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) has helped Saudi Arabia since 2007, though construction on "Project Simoom" has yet to begin, the radio said citing hundreds of classified documents and interviews with key players.
Sweden has in the past sold weapons to Saudi Arabia, but classified government documents state that Project Simoom "pushes the boundaries of what is possible for a Swedish authority," the radio said.
"The fact that an authority such as FOI is involved in the planning of a weapons factory for a government in a dictatorship such as Saudi Arabia is quite unique," the radio said.
FOI director general Jan-Olof Lind denied the existence of the project.
"We do not have a project agreement with that country," he told the radio.
Asked specifically if there has been a Project Simoom with Saudi Arabia, Lind replied: "No. And I do not wish to comment on discussions that may or may not have occurred between Sweden and Saudi Arabia. These discussions are classified."
But several former FOI employees confirmed the existence of the project to Swedish Radio, including Dick Straeng who led the project until 2010 and was one of Lind's closest colleagues.
"If I were to contradict your claims I would have to say that the documents you are showing me are fakes, and they are not," he said when presented with the classified material.
He said the Swedish government was fully aware of the plans.
"Here is a document that the director general signed and sent to the ministry,"
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
The Swedes have never been bothered too much by Jew-killers. Not during WWII, not now.
And yes, I am ethnically Swedish.
Saudi Arabia is our enemy without question. Keeping that fact in mine Saudi Arabia and Iran are enemeis as well. I don’t have any objections to them arming themselves for a regional conflict. If Iran goes nuts theres excellent potential for quite a bit of red on red and hopefully the saudis can take some of the pressure off of us in that kind of a war even if its unintentionally.
If we can get a passable president and congress next year (not likely but we can hope) we can develop enough of our own oil supplies and find more reliable suppliers. Despite oil being a fungible commodity I would think that if we can cut our reliance on the middle east an Iran/Saudi war would hurt China and other eastern countries more than us.
We would certainly have to brace for higher oil prices however despite the damage the democrats have done to us over the last twenty years we still have the capacity to tighten our belts more than China for instance. Higher prices for asian goods may even encourage more manufacturing to return stateside.
If you could provide Anti-Tank Missiles to the Rebels in Syria and Iran you would go a long way towards taking down the regimes.
“Despite oil being a fungible commodity I would think that if we can cut our reliance on the middle east an Iran/Saudi war would hurt China and other eastern countries more than us.”
How so? US oil import from the Saudi Arabian kingdom BY FAR exceeds Chinese imports. Chinese have direct oil pipelines from Central Asian republics, Iran and Eastern Russia. Not to mention a larger percentage of oil export from Angola, Indonesia, Venezuela, Sudan and West Africa goes mostly to China. US is FAR more dependent on middle east for oil then China. A war in Saudi Arabia will hit US economy FAR FAR worse then China.
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