Reuters reports Russia has signed a deal to sell surface-to-air missiles systems designed to shoot down aircraft and guided missiles at low altitudes:
The Vedomosti business daily cited military sources as saying would buy 29 TOR-M1 systems designed to bring down aircraft and guided missiles at low altitudes.
The paper, calling it the biggest sale of Russian defense hardware to for about five years, said Moscow and Tehran had already signed the contract.
Interfax news agency separately quoted a source as saying the deal, which would also include modernizing 's air force and supplying some patrol boats, was worth more than $1 billion.
This is not good news and will lessen Russia's ability to assist reaching a deal between and European powers over 's nuclear program.
It will also raise tensions between Israel and . Especially after 's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel should be "wiped off the map" and Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel can not accept a nuclear-armed .
Reports such as these bring thoughts to my mind, such as: "Why would Russia sell such items to a particularly volatile national leadership?" and "What does Russia stand to profit from such a sale?" The latter question is the somewhat easier of the two to answer. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90's the new Russian government has had diverse problems, particularly financially. A one billion dollar sale is nothing to sneeze at. However, this doesn't answer the first question, "Why?" I fully believe that to do something of this size, knowing full in advance that the news would get out, smacks of something more than financial gains. Now I am no conspiracy theorist by any means, nor do I feel myslef paranoid in anyway (these qualities obviously are up for debate), however I feel there is something more to this transaction than a billion dollar price tag. Unfortunately the question still stands, "Why?"
Posted by: Brown | Wednesday, April 19, 2006 at 11:29 PM