Free Republic

Taiwan's envoy to the US has claimed Washington is still considering whether to add fighter jets and submarines to the £4 billion weapons package it intends to sell the island. The comments by Jason Yuan will further fuel the escalating row between the US and China, which responded furiously to the arms deal at the weekend by suspending military exchanges with the US and slapping sanctions on the companies supplying the weapons. Washington has already agreed to sell 114 Patriot anti-missile batteries, 60 Blackhawk helicopters and two minesweepers to Taiwan. But Mr Yuan, Taipei's de facto ambassador to the US,...

The trial of those suspected of illegal armaments deals with Iraq has started at the Mannheim Regional Court. A US businessman of Iraqi origin and four co-defendants are accused of having violated the UN embargo. In 1999, together with an engineer, who has already been convicted, they mediated the sale of equipment for the construction of gun barrels for NBC [nuclear, biological, chemical] weapons to Iraq. The Iraq-born man owns two Jordan-based companies and was arrested in Bulgaria last November.

John Loftus interviewed by Batchelor and Alexander asserts that Hussein is dead from blast first night.Also confirmation that Russian and French sales to Iraq have included many night vision goggles, French and Russian anti tank missiles of recent vintage. Last Arabist from old Politburo is said to be behind this. Russians are frantically destroying the paper trail of sales.