Sure you do. Story seemed a bit "off" at the time, no? Yes -- it might've have some extra cargo, sez The Times. Gee, who'd've thunk?
The more I see of the Middle East, the more I respect rabid weasels.
Update: Supersonic Reflectoscope bids us look here. Srsly, replace [Iranian government] with [rabid weasels], huge improvement. Um, even more so than most governments. But there is a lesson here: if you've got the bux, you can get the firepower. No matter who or what says "no."
A quick read on the S-300 complex on Wikipedia would - if you haven't already - tell you why Israel would be very, very concerned about the Iranians having it.
ReplyDeleteJim
Thank you in turn for all the visitors. I wrote a little more on why this is a problem in my latest.
ReplyDeleteJim
Ahh, yes the intersection between elements within the Russian Military, their Military-Industrial complex, Russian intelligence and police, and Russian organized crime.
ReplyDeleteThen we have the Iranians. The Ayatollahs, actually. In Iran, forget the elections, and any talk of "moderates" or "moderation." The only voices that matter are the 10 man Council of Guardians, Ayatollahs all. All ten started out impoverished and are now multi-millionaires. They keep civil control via the Revolutionary Guard and factions. It's be like in the US having the street gangs - Bloods, Crips, MS-13 - armed and given police powers, with the law not applying to their actions. Lovely people, on a par with Uday Hussein.
Anything like the S-300 requires a huge training and logistics "tail," which the Iranians had to have assurances would be available. The US White House just got a rude awakening that this - and a HELL of a lot more - is available via black market/gray market sources.
Many folks around the world have been pointing out logistics and training black markets, including folks here in the US. Been an inconvenient truth, and now even White House political operatives have to admit it.
Yup, things are gonna get a whole lot worse before they get better. Oh joy, oh rapture.
Yeah, a ship with a cargo worth 1.2 million, wouldn't even pay the manpower and fuel costs to transport said cargo. Hasn't made any sense from the start.
ReplyDeleteRussia has never been governed very well...not in the time of the Czars, during communism, and not now. I just don't believe that entire shiploads of advanced weapons systems can be manufactured and shipped with "no" gov't knowledge.
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ReplyDeleteBut there is a lesson here: if you've got the bux, you can get the firepower. No matter who or what says "no."
ReplyDeleteBut we're told that gun control would be effective anyway.
Dangerous crowd these Ayatollahs. They have both money and fanaticism.
Israel is going to have to launch sooner or later.