China Daily editorial: Devious US intent in the Middle East

Updated: 2010-08-04 09:20

Remarks by a top US military commander that Washington has not relinquished the option to attack Iran for its clandestine nuclear program show that the US has not deviated from its carrot-and-stick policy toward the Islamic nation.

Admiral Mike Mullen said during the course of an NBC program on August 1 that the US has a military strategy to strike Iran if needed to prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, indicated that military measures are not the preferred option to deal with Iran.

The US has adopted this double-faced strategy to defeat Iran ever since the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution June 9 to impose a fourth round of sanctions against the Middle Eastern power over its suspected nuclear program.

By taking this kind of approach, the US is hoping Iran would eventually succumb to its pressure to roll back the program.

Recently, Washington had clearly signaled that it was still interested in, and willing to engage Iran in, constructive negotiations. Yet, on the other hand, it has unilaterally implemented severe sanctions against Iran, even urging the European Union to follow suit.

It is clear that the US is at its wit's end in trying to find a way out of the impasse. Although it is too early to precisely measure the impact of the latest round of sanctions, previous UN efforts to curb Iran have never taken the direction that the US has desired. This might just be the right time for Washington to go down a new road.

The tactics of tit-for-tat retaliation and preemptive action have proved outdated and futile in dealing with extant security issues. Past experience indicates that drastic moves will only escalate tension and nullify any chances of further mediation.

To resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff, it may be wiser if Washington can set into motion the Vienna group comprising itself, France, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Negotiations are always preferable to saber rattling.

Rightardia agrees with the Chinese writer. the US should be trying to withdraw form the middle east, not creating further entanglements. Iran is not a direct threat to the US. It presents a threat to Israeli nuclear hegemony in the middle east.

After Admiral Mullen made his announcement, the Iranians announced they had procured some S-300 air defense missiles. The Iranian crises will escalate if the US does not show more restraint. The US must stop fighting Israel's battles.

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“Arctic Sea” intercepted by Israel over missiles cargo?

Rightardia comment: It appears the Arctic Sea was carrying S-300 missiles bound for Iran according to the Times of London.The Russians had indicated they had intended to supply these missiles to Iran in the past. These missiles would have significantly complicated an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Sources in Tel Aviv and Moscow claimed the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, one of Russia’s most advanced anti-aircraft weapons, while undergoing repairs in the Russian port of Kaliningrad, a port notorious for arms smuggling.

Mossad, supposedly tipped off the Russian government that the shipment had been sold by former military officers linked to the underworld. Rightardia believes this story is probably bogus. Russia had agreed to sell the S-300 to Iran in December, 2007.

Maritime reporter Mikhail Voitenko, was also forced to flee Russia after receiving threats for his suggestions about the cargo contents of the hijacked merchant vessel Arctic Sea. He moved a second time from Bangkok from Istanbul.

Admiral Tarmo Kouts, former commander of Estonia’s armed forces and the European Union’s rapporteur on piracy, infuriated Moscow by saying that the ship was transporting weapons.



The story about the hijacked Russian-crewed cargo ship grows ever more mysterious. Time magazine is alleging that the “Arctic Sea” was intercepted by Israel as it carried weapons to the Middle East.

The allegations began with Admiral Kouts, a former commander of the Estonian armed forces who now heads the European Union’s piracy watch.

According to him, Israel is the country most likely to have carried out the hijacking on the ship to prevent missiles being delivered to countries in the Middle East.

Time writes that in an interview with the magazine, Kouts said “only a shipment of missiles could account for Russia's bizarre behavior throughout the month-long saga.”

"There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can't explain this situation in any other way," he is quoted as saying. "As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic."

The official word, however, is that the “Arctic Sea” was transporting timber from Finland to Algeria. In response to Kouts’s allegations, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s envoy to NATO, said he should stop "running his mouth."

Meanwhile, the majority of Israel’s population does not believe their country was in any way involved in the situation.

So, if Israel was involved in the hijacking of the Russian-manned vessel, why did it not draw attention to it?

According to Ronen Bergman, an investigative journalist at the Yediot Aharonoth newspaper, “Israeli intelligence would create the framework in which, for example, international police force would seize the ship.”

He said they’d “embarrass Russia or the company supplying the S-300 [Russian long range surface-to-air missile systems] to either Syria or Iran” by drawing the world’s attention to their actions and saying “Look, we caught them!”

S-300 missile system

In Russia, the Israeli involvement version has not met much support either.

“Look at the faces of the men who stormed the “Arctic Sea” and their backgrounds – they are criminals. Not a single security service in the world would ever deal with such people,” said Russian opposition politician Aleksey Mitrofanov. “The whole incident looks like score settling between the ship owner and his partners.

However, those who believe the allegation that Israel was involved in the interception of the ship say that no other country is more willing or more able to carry out an operation like that on such a professional level. Another question that some people keep asking is why Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Russia just a day after the hijacking.

So, it looks this story is far from the end.

Times of London source: http://tinyurl.com/kwlvfg

http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-09-03/arctic-sea-intercepted-israel.html#

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http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124719

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Israel tries to stop sales of Russian S-300 air defense systems to Iran

Editor's Note: The sale of this missile could complicate any Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. It is possible Israel would launch a preemptive attack on Iran prior to the delivery of the S-300 missiles. I would expect Israeli diplomacy to fall on deaf Russian ears. The Israelis trained Georgian troops and also provided them with new anti-tank weapons that destroyed several Russian tanks in the hostilities in South Osetia.

MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Israel has intensified its efforts to prevent deliveries of Russian S-300 air defense systems to Iran under a 2007 contract, an Israeli newspaper said on Monday.

According to the Haaretz daily, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and asked him to prevent the arms deal from going through."

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met a week ago at the Paris Airshow with Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and reportedly "asked that he also intervene to prevent the arms sale."

Israel and the U.S. insist that the delivery of advanced air defense systems to Iran would undermine the military balance in the region, and Russia has until recently delayed the implementation of the deal.

Although Russian sources said in March that Iran had not yet received any S-300 air defense systems and the deal relied on the leadership in Moscow, Russia had reiterated its commitment to fulfill the contract, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Haaretz said that during the visit of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to Moscow several weeks ago, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the Israeli official that some payments under the contract had already been made.

Arms deliveries to Iran are also important to Russia because Moscow is quickly losing its positions on key Asian arms markets in China and India.

In light of the recent developments and ahead of a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama with his Russian counterpart next week, Israel has launched "intensive diplomatic efforts...in order to restore the earlier Russian commitment not to complete the deal," the newspaper said.

The latest version of the S-300 family is the S-300PMU2 Favorit, which has a range of up to 195 kilometers (about 120 miles) and can intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles at altitudes from 10 meters to 27 kilometers.

It is considered one of the world's most effective all-altitude regional air defense systems, comparable in performance to the U.S. MIM-104 Patriot system.

http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20090629/155382108.html 

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