{"id":5957,"date":"2012-02-15T15:46:53","date_gmt":"2012-02-15T22:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=5957"},"modified":"2012-02-15T15:46:53","modified_gmt":"2012-02-15T22:46:53","slug":"russian-and-us-weapons-profiteering-is-the-scourge-of-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=5957","title":{"rendered":"Russian and US Weapons profiteering is the scourge of the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adding Fuel to Syria’s Fire<\/strong>
\nBy Anya Barry, 13 February, 2012<\/p>\n

russia-syria-assadDespite the widespread international denunciation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the government in Damascus continues to crack down hard on the country\u2019s growing domestic opposition. \u201cThey are moving in a direction that completely shows that they are absolutely out of touch,\u201d says Yasser Tabbara, the secretary general of the Syrian National Council (SNC), a government opposition group. Other countries in the region have experienced revolutions, but Syria remains in a state of uncertainty. At the UN, China and Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian government\u2019s actions, making a coordinated international response even more difficult.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, as the conflict rages on, Syria continues to receive shipments of military supplies\u2014specifically from countries like Iran, Lebanon, and Russia. In January, Russia inked a lucrative deal with the Syrian government to sell approximately $500 million worth of military arms in the form of 36 Yak-130 aircraft combat jets. Russia\u2019s actions have caused significant outcry from the international community. High-ranking officials such as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice as well as other Western diplomats have stated their strong disapproval of Russia\u2019s move. Over the past 10 months, Syria\u2019s escalating violence has resulted in the deaths of 5,400 civilians. Russia\u2019s combat jets are specifically designed to shoot targets on the ground, which could lead to an increase in the civilian death toll.<\/p>\n

Arms Embargo?<\/p>\n

In response to the ongoing problems in Syria, the Moroccan delegation to the UN introduced a resolution calling for an arms embargo on Syria and for Assad\u2019s resignation. Russia vetoed the resolution, claiming that it would precipitate regime change and a possible civil war. As Russia\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov stated, \u201cthere is no clear line between arms contraband that some countries engage in to support extremist forces in Syria, and the legal military-technical ties with this country.\u201d Russia has claimed that the violence occurring in Syria is the result of opposition groups rather than Assad\u2019s security forces. One rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, has been trying to smuggle weapons across the border through Lebanon, but the amounts pale in comparison to what the Syrian security forces have been receiving from abroad.<\/p>\n

According to Business Insider, Syria is one of Russia\u2019s largest weapons consumers, purchasing around $4 billion total in military supplies. Additionally, Syria\u2019s port of Tartus, where Russia recently sent an aircraft carrier, serves as Russia\u2019s sole naval base in the region. Russia has also invested around $19.4 billion in Syria\u2019s infrastructure and exports about $1.1 billion in goods to the nation. If Assad were to resign, Russian business interests could be seriously put at risk. An additional motive for Russia\u2019s staunch support for the Assad regime is the concern that if Syria\u2019s government were to crumble, it could have a domino effect in the nearby Russian North Caucasus region. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Adding Fuel to Syria’s Fire By Anya Barry, 13 February, 2012 russia-syria-assadDespite the widespread international denunciation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the government in Damascus continues to crack down hard on the country\u2019s growing domestic opposition. \u201cThey are moving in a direction that completely shows that they are absolutely out of touch,\u201d says Yasser Tabbara, more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[2501],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5958,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5957\/revisions\/5958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}