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| Israel-Palestine | |
| Bowing to U.S. pressure, Israel to curb arms deals | |
| 2005-06-26 | |
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz last week agreed to comply with the Americans' demands regarding the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) deal with China and changes in the supervision of Israel's arms exports. On Friday, Sharon instructed an Israeli delegation leaving Sunday for Washington to agree to American demands. The delegation is expected to draft a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on weapons exports with the United States. Israel hopes this move will end the U.S. sanctions against it, which have been in place for half a year and have caused grave damage to Israel's defense industries and the work relations between the Defense Ministry and the Pentagon. Among other things, the Americans severed their work relations with Defense Ministry Director General Major General Amos Yaron. Yaron said he intends to retire within the next few months. The decision to accept all of the U.S.'s demands means that once again Israel will have to violate an agreement to supply defense equipment to China, five years after it canceled the Falcon airplane deal. China is expected to demand compensation fees for Israel's breaking of the agreement, as it did after Israel revoked the Falcon deal. According to the present deal, Israel had undertaken to supply China over the years with spare parts for UAVs made by the Israel Aircraft Industries. Israel has been holding on to the UAV parts in question at Washington's demand. Now these parts will not be returned to China. It also appears that the Chinese will avoid making large-scale agreements with Israel in the future. The U.S. says this is not an isolated incident and that it reflects a pattern. They cite the Falcon airplane affair and before that, the sale of advanced Lavi airplane technology and air-to-air missiles to China. The Americans have demanded recently that the government deal directly with decisions on arms sales to China. Friends of Israel in Congress and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee have criticized its management of the crisis and urged it to avoid exacerbating the conflict. One of the U.S.'s central demands, which Israel has accepted, is the introduction of fundamental amendments into the legislation dealing with arms sales, including regulations for dual civil-military use equipment. By so doing Israel will be implementing the international Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies of 1996. More than 30 states have adopted the arrangement. Mofaz intends to advise Washington that he will appoint a senior defense official to coordinate the supervision issues and present new proposals. This official is Brigadier General (res.) Uzi Eilam, formerly the director of the Atomic Energy Committee and head of the directorate of defense research and development in the Defense Ministry. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #17 What .com said. Amazes me how tone deaf the Israelis are when it comes to trading with the Chicoms. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2005-06-26 21:49 |
| #16 thanks Ship..we all got those days. |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-06-26 21:16 |
| #15 Grom does seem to be a little off his feed. I expect it's a short term malaise. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-06-26 20:23 |
| #14 Lol, RD! That tour through Cairo went south on ya, eh? Heh. I toured some in those parts, myself. I sat on a goddamned sun-baked concrete slab at the southern edge of the phreakin' Negev Desert for a whole fucking year writing sensor alarm code, tripwire stuff, to help secure their southern border. Felt like the right thing to do - back then. g is a major asstard - no make that a cunt - and I've soured on this bullshit. With friends like g and the assholes who were selling tech to the ChiComms, it's no wonder they're alone against the rest of the fucking world. I know you shouldn't shoot all the dogs cuz one of them has fleas, but g's assitude takes the cake. Sorry, RD, I won't be any fun to play with for the rest of the day, lol! |
| Posted by: .com 2005-06-26 18:32 |
| #13 >;Ã |
| Posted by: Spuque Spealing5363= Red dog 2005-06-26 18:14 |
| #12 .com, I was gonna give him a chance to dig a little deeper...BUT big time Amen!!!! >;Ã ...reflecting back to '68 when the Egyptian authorities bird doged me for two weeks about being an Israeli spy. They didn't like my attitude. |
| Posted by: Spuque Spealing5363 2005-06-26 18:12 |
| #11 WTF? Research Centers? You're full of shit. Again. "As to trust, Israel trusted USA. Dumb jews never learn." Lol! Yep, We've let You down. Not sure when, but you said it so it MUST be true. In 45 years of paying taxes, I've never, not even once, bitched or moaned or regretted the support the US has provided, through thick and thin, to Israel's survival. Not even the '73 oil embargo - a direct result of saving Israel's ass in a war - swayed me. On RB, my negative words number less than 50, the positive beyond counting. Even Pollard didn't sway me. But today, you've managed to disparage my president - when you and yours are playing the whores, lie through your teeth regards American technical prowess, forget who bailed your asses out of the hole more than once, forget where your precious nukies came from, and smugly assume there is no penalty for selling arms to a future combat enemy or for the perfidy of doing so with purloined goods. Besides being an intolerable smug asshole, you're dead wrong. Emphasis on dead. I'm the kind of guy that politicians pay attention to. I write them letters, in plain readable English and they pay attention. You know how I know? I enclose checks. I tell them exactly why they got the check, too. And I make sure there are sufficient zeros. And I get invitations to various free and fund-raising events. And personal replies, most of the time, signed by his electedness himself. If I think Israel has gone too far and is no longer worthy of US support - they'll listen, ticking off a mental box. And if enough of the people like me run into enough of the people like you, it will start to have an effect as those ticked boxes add up. The short-term windfall to the US in the Arab world would boggle. Love fest. It would be PR to die for. On the other hand, Janet Jackson stole "What have you done for me lately?" from them, so I know it would be a passing thing, but then there's the $4BN - that'd up-scale a lot of US military salaries. I like it. You know why Israel enjoys such wide support in the US? I do. Excluding those with family and religious ties, a definitely tiny-assed minority, there are 2 reasons. Only 2. First, Israel is a democracy. Second, Israel is an underdog. Politicos spout the first one all the time cuz they think it makes a nice sound byte. But, far and away, the second one is the big one - it appeals to a fundamental essence of what it means to be an American. If you know Americans, then you know I'm telling the truth. Now smugness, well lemme tell you, it just takes the shine right off that underdog thingy. No sir, smug folks don't get the benefit of the doubt. It'd be plum gone. *poof* Kil't deader 'n hell. Take that to the fucking bank. Now fuck the fuck off. And congratulations, you've managed to do what even the fucking Arabs were never able to do. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-06-26 17:52 |
| #10 As to trust, Israel trusted USA. Dumb jews never learn. hyperbole aside gromgoru, please explain "As to trust, Israel trusted USA." for real. |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-06-26 17:47 |
| #9 This story is remarkably similar to one a few months back where European firms were transferring technology supplied by the USA to China as part of Arms/technology deals. I remarked at the time the USA needs to make it crystal clear that the choice is between sharing tech and trading with those the US perceives to be threats. Its binary, chose one or the other. Hopefully, the Israelis (and Europeans) now understand this. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-06-26 17:44 |
| #8 Dittos. To be friends by definition you should trust. Every spy-op uncovered or uderstanding broken puts a blemish and strain on our friendship. Yes, yes. Israel constantly steals american tech: that's why IBM, Microsoft, Intel, and a dozen others have research centers in Israel --- to make it easier for us to steal your tech. As to trust, Israel trusted USA. Dumb jews never learn. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2005-06-26 17:06 |
| #7 "Friends of Israel in Congress and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee have criticized its management of the crisis and urged it to avoid exacerbating the conflict." AIPAC critical? This is a bit of a departure from usual. Allow me to look into the future. #1. Larry Franklin- acquitted of Title 18, Section 793(d) of the Espionage Act. Convicted of possession of classified documents - Sentencing, ala Sandy Berger. #2. AIPAC unscathed, Rosen and Weissman fade away without much mention. #3. Douglas Feith and General Amos Yaron retire as already announced only to surface another day. #4. Espionage investigation stops at Israel Embassy door insulating Naor Gilon. #5. AIPAC case will never be prosecuted like the other six sealed indictments for espionage in the last 2 decades on Israelâs behalf. #6. US will continue "Special Relationship" with Israel. After all as Michael Rubin, author of the passed memo, points out. The matter really is nothing but an âincreasing anti-Semitic witch hunt.â |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2005-06-26 14:14 |
| #6 Dittos. To be friends by definition you should trust. Every spy-op uncovered or uderstanding broken puts a blemish and strain on our friendship. For the sake of our own national interest gromgorru, should we place more effort on trust or verification of that trust? |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-06-26 14:00 |
| #5 bbbbzzzztttt wrong answer. Look into your magic 8ball again grom... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-06-26 10:33 |
| #4 Y'know, there's just something fundamentally wrong with your post, grom. What - did I touch a nerve? Here, lemme stroke a few more with my favorite metal curry comb... Somebody else in the Big Chair and you might be right, grom, but Bush won't do it. You've got a pretty big chip on your shoulder, pun intended, too: piggyback technology is the easy shit, son. Show me the original designs and patents. And you need to do something about that bile condition: your "cristal" ball is pitted. Cynicism is not a hallmark of superiority, it's just another fatal condition of closed-minded flawed people. The leadership of Israel is foolish to fuck with our trust. A $4BN budget diet should go a ways to cure the high triglyceride count that leads to irrational displays of macho bullshit. Here's the sweetheart deal you seem to want: you sell your "superior" arms to whomever you want. We walk away, put sanctions on American firms buying any of your shit, and summarily shoot anyone caught spying for Israel. That would be fair, right? Strut baby, strut. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-06-26 10:33 |
| #3 though only slightly inferior to Israel;-) |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-06-26 08:53 |
| #2 Let me look into my cristal ball. Within, a year at the most, it will be decided that solving the nork crisis is a most immediate US national interest. And that China's cooperation is essential. At this point, US firms who have an equipment of the kind that Israel is forbidden to sell, will be allowed to sell it to China, the deal subsidazed by USG---American equipment, though only slightly inferior to Israeli, is much more expensive. |
| Posted by: gromgorru 2005-06-26 08:37 |
| #1 It should NOT be necessary. Careful, you greedy fools. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-06-26 02:39 |