middle east weapons programs

[DrBenway]

Googling about, I came across a web site with info on defense/military issues for several Middle Eastern countries. http://www.menewsline.com/strategic.html

The site isn't a news agency. It's a company selling information regarding specific military contracts and assets to defense industry professionals.

The short profiles for each state are old (dated 11/16/2001), but still fascinating to read. In addition to the US and the UK, China, France, Russia, and North Korea, are all major defense vendors, providing billions of dollars in weapons programs to various states.

If you read each entry, you'll note a web of cooperative defense agreements. Add them up, and you see allies falling into two major camps. Guess which side of the street houses Syria, Iran, the Palestinian Authority, and Russia. Guess why Jordan will soon have a nuclear weapons program.

For laughs, here's the two-year-old entry for Iraq:

"A decade after the 1991 Gulf war, Iraq is ready to flex its muscles. Baghdad has renewed threats against Kuwait and for the first time has posed the prospect of an Iraqi nuclear bomb. President Saddam Hussein is pulling out all the stops to deter the United States against an attack on his regime. A key problem is a delivery system for any nonconventional weapon.

"A U.S. attack could destroy Saddam's hopes for a revival of his economy. Russia plans to explore and develop huge oil and natural gas reserves in southern Iraq. Baghdad's wealth has resulted in a reconciliation throughout the Arab and Islamic world. Money does not appear to be a problem as Iraq smuggles hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day through neighboring Syria and Turkey.

"A key question is the future of northern Iraq, which, in effect, has been under Kurdish rule for a decade. Saddam badly wants to restore control of this oil-rich area and has even invited Osama Bin Laden to eliminate Kurdish separatists. "

[DrBenway]

Oh, if you didn't have enough to worry about (from the entry on Iran):

"The Islamic republic has completed its Shihab-3 intermediate surface-to-surface missile -- with a range of 1,300 kilometers -- and has begun serial production. The success has accelerated work on Iran's Shihab-4 missile, with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers. Teheran, with massive Russian help, is also advancing rapidly in the development of nuclear weapons capability. Iran is expected to achieve this capability as early as 2004."

and from the entry on Lebanon:

"(Iran-backed) Hizbullah has deployed close to 10,000 rockets and missiles along the border with Israel, a development that the government in Beirut has no control over."

It was nice knowing you, Cleopatra.:(

[Cleopatra]

Originally posted by DrBenway
It was nice knowing you, Cleopatra.:(

I am not sure I know what you mean with that , Doctor :)

You see, in another thread, someone said that the cost of War will be higher than the future benefits...

This, gave me a hard laugh...

But Dr.Benway, I happen to have read a lot of History, in fact, I have done more than just reading History...

I had nothing else to do apart from taking long baths in milk, anyway...it's boring to be a Queen...

Humanity was always like that.The problem is that we have done nothing so far to make our ideas and ideals, a lifestyle.

[UnrepentantSinner]

While you're compartmentalizing, why don't you check out where India gets most of her weapons from and why.

[DrBenway]

Originally posted by Cleopatra
The problem is that we have done nothing so far to make our ideas and ideals, a lifestyle.

An idea:

Israel changes its name to “McState.” The city of “Jerusalem” is renamed “Placeville.” The purpose of this: to announce to the world that government is no more special, heroic, or wonderful, than, say, your average appliance.

A government exists to fulfill a function, just as a blender exists for a certain purpose. Do people care about the brand of blender they own? What does it matter, so long as the blender is able to froth a smoothie?

A government collects money and spends money for the good of its citizens. All governments do the same thing. A government is a human invention serving a specific purpose. It’s like a blender. It might even be less interesting than a blender.

Once the state is stripped of the usual cultural baggage, it will not be very lovely, but neither will it be particularly ugly. It will be beige and tasteless. It will be minimally offensive. And thus, perhaps, it might be sufficiently palatable for Jews, Christians, Palestinians, and other sects.

Everyone currently residing within Israel and the occupied territories is offered citizenship in McState, upon certain conditions: firstly, the people must agree to honor and obey the laws of the land. These laws are based upon a shared belief in human rights, particularly the rights of children. Secondly, they must promise to work toward the health and survival of McState, so long as McState is true to the principles of human rights.

All children born in McState are entitled to a good education likely to lead to either university studies or a useful trade. Because citizens will have no way of agreeing about religious matters, those matters are to be taught in the home, synagogue, mosque, or church, but not in McState institutions. McState institutions will teach more earthly matters, like math, science, history, languages, music, art, and web site design. McState schools are compulsory through high school, and free for all citizens. Fundamentalists aren’t allowed to keep their kids home, forcing them to learn just Qu’ran and only the Qu’ran, day in, day out, because, well, that’s just a mean thing to do to a kid.

According to the principles of human rights, as outlined in many places, McState citizens are not discriminated against before the law on the basis of race, sex, religion, or social status. That means that any affirmative action programs (e.g., the Law of Return) have to be phased out over time.

All land in McState is held in trust by the government, which leases the land to citizens at reasonable rates.

McState puts this motto on all its currency: “Hey, if we can do it, anybody can!”

In one generation, McState proves that ancient blood feuds serving no purpose beyond self-perpetuation, can be defeated by a few plucky souls willing to assert the reality of the greater tribe of human kind.

[DrBenway]

Originally posted by UnrepentantSinner
While you're compartmentalizing, why don't you check out where India gets most of her weapons from and why.

You've lost me, mate.

[Cleopatra]

I wish it could be done that way Dr.Benway.

On the other hand , I don't know if what I have just said is right.

I mean, I don't like pain at all but I am not afraid of it.

I mean, is there a painless procedure on this Earth? States and people must get threw painful situations in order to discover who they really are and this is not a vague philosophical wish...This is how things must be done and eventually are done.

A lot of blood has been shredded in this land and it's very difficult to forget and forgive.It's so difficult to become beige... not to mention that beige is the colour of the corpses as well.

My idea? I don't have any because I sense and fear that things haven't been dramatic enough yet, things haven't reached the bottom.

If you don't hit the bottom of the ocean you can't start swimming to the surface.