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| Europe |
| 'Russia has left the western orbit' |
| 2006-04-27 |
| Missile deals with the 'axis of evil' are just the latest sign that Moscow is sick of kowtowing to the US and Europe, writes Tom Parfitt Thursday April 27, 2006 Moscow could be on the verge of clinching an arms deal with Syria or Iran that would send the US and Israel into pop-eyed rage. A few days ago a Russian arms manufacturer let slip at an arms fair in Kuala Lumpur that his state-run weapons design bureau was close to sealing a foreign sale of Iskander-E missiles. The destination of the hardware was secret, he said, but the most obvious market is clear: the Middle East. Moscow dispatch 'Russia has left the western orbit' Missile deals with the 'axis of evil' are just the latest sign that Moscow is sick of kowtowing to the US and Europe, writes Tom Parfitt Thursday April 27, 2006 Moscow could be on the verge of clinching an arms deal with Syria or Iran that would send the US and Israel into pop-eyed rage. A few days ago a Russian arms manufacturer let slip at an arms fair in Kuala Lumpur that his state-run weapons design bureau was close to sealing a foreign sale of Iskander-E missiles. The destination of the hardware was secret, he said, but the most obvious market is clear: the Middle East. Article continues Last year, Israel was furious when it emerged that Moscow was planning to sell the Iskander to Damascus. The Iskander is like the Scuds that Iraq used during the Gulf war but many times more accurate and better equipped to avoid defensive weapons such as the Patriot missile. Syria - part of George Bush's "axis of evil" - would love to be able to trundle some of these short-range ballistic missiles (range: 180 miles) down to its southern border to point at Israel in the event of a conflict. No doubt the Iranian regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also itching to get its hands on some of these weapons - whose sale is not restricted by any treaty. Earlier this month Iran tested an underwater missile that looked suspiciously like a Russian Shkval. President Vladimir Putin, under pressure from the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was forced to step in and reverse the Syrian missile deal. These days, one might surmise, he would not give a fig. Everything about Russia's stance in the international arena suggests a new confidence that radiates "don't bully me". I is still possible the Iskanders will go to a less threatening client than the Middle Eastern bad boys - China, say, or India or Algeria. But the point is, they will go to whomever Moscow wants. Russia has shown in recent months that western condemnation will not shake its resolve to play on the world stage as it likes. Welcoming a Hamas delegation to Moscow last month - described by a minister in Jerusalem as "stabbing Israel in the back" - was one example. A second was the decision a few weeks later to give financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, against the wishes of the US and the EU. In another robust move, the Russians have refused to back down on a recent $700m (£380m) deal to sell 29 Tor M1 mobile surface-to-air missile defence systems to Iran despite pressure from Washington. "We hope and we trust that that deal will not go forward because this is not the time for business as usual with the Iranian government," grumbled the US undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns last week, as the UN geared up for its crucial report tomorrow on Iran's nuclear enrichment programme. But the complaint fell on deaf ears at the Kremlin. While Russia's arms industry is growing fast, its new brassiness relies mostly on the billions of dollars it is raking in from hydrocarbon exports, on the back of high oil prices. As an emerging energy superpower, Moscow is increasingly seeking to play off potential buyers of its oil and gas. Last week Alexei Miller, the head of the Russian state gas monopoly, Gazprom, warned that attempts to limit his company's expansion in Europe would "not lead to good results". The company caused alarm at the British gas supplier Centrica when it emerged that the Russian firm saw it as a potential takeover target - Gazprom had turned off the taps to its neighbour Ukraine in January, in a politically charged dispute. Miller also said: "It should not be forgotten we are actively seeking new markets, such as North America and China." President Vladimir Putin weighed in on the theme yesterday. "Despite the great demand for energy resources, any excuses are being used to limit us in the north, in the south, in the west," he said. "We must look for markets, fit into the processes of global development. I have in mind the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, which are developing at great speed and need to cooperate with us." Dmitry Trenin, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Centre, says Russia - fed up with pandering to the US and Europe - is undergoing a fundamental shift in foreign relations. Now it will focus on ties with countries, such as Brazil, India and China, that it sees as being on a similar path of development to itself. "Russia has left the western orbit," Mr Trenin said. "It was circling it distantly for about a decade, Pluto-like. But now it's gone." |
| Posted by:john |
| #13 Eat sh*t and die Fukuyama. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-04-27 22:37 |
| #12 Who else are they supposed to sell to their weapons to? By US thinking, they're supposed to sit on their hands and forego all that cash, and watch while others make billion dollar deals. It's like asking Donald Trump to build single family dwellings in the middle of Manhattan. Ain't gonna happen. They are a former superpower. They have the capability to produce sophisticated weapons. This is simple supply and demand. Get over it. |
| Posted by: rafael 2006-04-27 21:51 |
| #11 Yeah, Russia never was in the west. Hell, I fulfilled my college's "non-Western Civilization" requirement with Russian History. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-04-27 21:02 |
| #10 I think of Janus when I think of Russia. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2006-04-27 20:59 |
| #9 Remember that Russia is schizophrenic, with a European face and an Asiatic face. They are never comfortable too long with one or the other. On the plus side, when they wear their Asiatic face, they usually lie less than when pretending to be Europeans. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-04-27 20:57 |
| #8 The millions of ethnic Chinese moving into Russian territory doesn't bode well for relations. Reminds one of another Western country with millions of its neighbors to the south moving in. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-04-27 20:33 |
| #7 China will look to undo the 'unfair' treaties of Peking and Aigun, where Russia annexed its Far Eastern territories. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-04-27 19:58 |
| #6 The millions of ethnic Chinese moving into Russian territory doesn't bode well for relations. |
| Posted by: john 2006-04-27 19:40 |
| #5 PRAVDA > Russia and only Russia will decide whom is its equal - doesn't bode well for the future of Russo-Chinese relations, Eurasianism-Asianism-Orientalism, nor for inter-country relations vv the Shanghai Cooper (SCO). |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-04-27 19:31 |
| #4 Will it be captured by an angry Mars or a sleek Venus? Stand by your TeeVee. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-04-27 19:26 |
| #3 Left? It's never been in the orbit despite all the European attempts to make it so. Russia is Russia. It's in it's own orbit. It's not some weak nation that needs Europe or the US. |
| Posted by: SPoD 2006-04-27 19:22 |
| #2 Guardian claptrap. Russia has never been, in any substantive way, in "the Western orbit". He and his backers have always been in business solely for themselves and any overlap was merely happenstance. Hand-wringing bullshit. |
| Posted by: Gruque Chuting6279 2006-04-27 19:14 |
| #1 first ten lines (duplicated) need trimming |
| Posted by: john 2006-04-27 19:08 |