Wednesday February 1, 2006

I've Been Thinking:

You can usually tell the character of a nation by the people they sell weapons to.

Russian Chief of Staff General Yuri Baluyevsky just finished a trip to Syria. He met with Syrian Chief of Staff Ali Habib as well as numerous other military and political leaders.
Russia is selling weapons to Syria.

Last year the Russians sold Syria SA-18 missiles. The SA-18 is designed to be shoulder mounted and portable. But the ones that Russia sold have been tailored and altered for 4x4 truck mounts. We don't know exactly what else has been sold to Syria.

A Baluyevsky source said: "We regard this as a very important visit on the strategic level."

Russia is playing both sides of the fence. They want to calm tensions yet they provide weapons and resources to the most problematic countries in the world. That list includes Iran.

The bottom line is that Russia cannot be trusted because the only reliable export they have is weapons.
But there is a silver lining.
Like any other weapons dealer, the Russians can be bought.
So, let us buy them.