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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/25_06_02/art18.asp The Daily Star {Lebanon) June 25, 2002 Israel steps up military aid to India, consolidates strategic relationship New alliance may be a stepping stone to new Asian links -� and not everyone is comfortable with it Ed Blanche Special to The Daily Star -They agreed to intensify cooperation against terrorism and to form working teams to consolidate various aspects of what shows all the signs of becoming a strategic relationship that will immensely strengthen Israel�s burgeoning influence in Southern and Central Asia. -Washington�s unavoidable collaboration with Pakistan in the war against the Taleban and Al-Qaeda may have complicated this equation somewhat, but the principal US aim seems to be to contain China, which it fears will become a major threat over the next two decades or so, by bolstering India�s military capabilities and to gain a significant military presence in Southern and Central Asia, something that New Delhi had resisted for decades. How neatly Sept. 11 seems to have fitted in with US geopolitical objectives. -[T]here have been suggestions that Israel should now forge a new strategic alliance on top of that with Turkey and the one that is clearly emerging with India, this time with Taiwan, which is now going all out to upgrade and expand its military capabilities and is always on the lookout for allies in its confrontation with Beijing. Both Taiwan and Israel share an institutionalized �special relationship� with the US, which has pledged to guarantee their defense, and enjoy bipartisan support from the US Congress. The day that Osama bin Laden�s suicide squads wreaked havoc in the United States, Major General Uzi Dayan, who heads Israel�s National Security Council and is Premier Ariel Sharon�s security adviser, was conducting a �strategic dialogue� in New Delhi with his counterpart, Brajesh Mishra, and other senior Indian officials. They agreed to intensify cooperation against terrorism and to form working teams to consolidate various aspects of what shows all the signs of becoming a strategic relationship that will immensely strengthen Israel�s burgeoning influence in Southern and Central Asia. Dayan�s presence in New Delhi on Sept. 11 was, of course, pure happenstance, but it underlined how events in the Middle East and Asia are becoming increasingly entwined, and not necessarily for the good. Israel has had security links with India for many years, even though India did not recognize Israel until the end of the Cold War. But since Sept. 11, the relationship has expanded rapidly and, in some respects, more openly. India has exploited the suicide attacks on the United States to intensify its war against Islamic extremists in disputed Kashmir, just as Sharon has hijacked US President George W. Bush�s �war on terrorism� to convince Americans that the Palestinians fighting against Israeli occupation are no different than bin Laden. Indeed, the pronouncements of India�s pro-Western right-wing prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, on the Kashmir problem � �we have had enough of symbolic gestures� from Pakistan,� or �terrorist attacks must be halted� before meaningful negotiations can take place � often bear an eerie similarity to Sharon�s proclamations about the Palestinians. Since India recognized Israel in 1992 (after a clandestine relationship that spanned two decades), Israel has become its second-biggest arms supplier after Russia. Over the last two years, it has sold equipment worth some $3 billion, including Barak naval surface-to-air missiles, unmanned aerial surveillance aircraft and the Green Pine early warning radar that is an integral part of the Israeli Arrow-2 anti-missile missile system. Israel also wants to export the Arrow-2 to India and Turkey, but since this program has been largely funded by the US, Washington�s permission is required. So far, this has not been forthcoming because of the confrontation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, but the Israelis seem confident that they will eventually get their way. The Bush administration recently cleared the sale of Israel�s A-50I Phalcon airborne warning and control system (AWACS) planes, worth $1 billion, to India. With India, which was allied to Moscow during the Cold War, now solidly in the US camp following the events of Sept. 11, Israeli arms sales � along with growing US military aid � are likely to increase. The Phalcon deal, which will give India a significant operational edge over Pakistan and China, as well as other defense contracts with India were the key issues on Foreign Minister Shimon Peres� agenda when he visited New Delhi in January. Defense News, a Washington-based defense industry weekly, reported this month that Israel is responding to appeals from New Delhi to accelerate arms deliveries and to expand joint efforts to combat the threat of Islamic extremism, particularly Barak missiles, medium-altitude Heron surveillance craft, ground-based and airborne sensors for use along the border with Pakistan and tactical radio systems. This has coincided with the deterioration in the confrontation over Kashmir. Officials in both countries are reluctant to discuss this rapidly expanding relationship. However, Ephraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, told Defense News: �Its an extremely sensitive issue. With both countries basically facing similar threats of terrorist incursions, I believe the Indians have come to value more than ever their strategic cooperative relationship with Israel because of the weapons, technology and operational experiences we can offer them.� The center hosted a delegation of Indian strategic analysts and policy advisers led by K. Santhanam, director of the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, to discuss the various aspects of political and military cooperation between the two countries. And Uzi Dayan was back in New Delhi with Zvi Gabay, director-general of Israel�s Foreign Ministry, on May 27-28 to discuss speeding up military deliveries, although these will have to be coordinated with the US to avoid upsetting the balance of power in the flashpoint region. Still, it should be noted that the Americans applied intense pressure on Israel into scrapping a contract, potentially worth $3 billion, to sell up to four Phalcon AWACS to China in 2000 because it could threaten Taiwanese and US national security interests in the Asia-Pacific region, but have yielded on exporting the Phalcon to India. Scuttling the deal with China, a key arms market for Israel, badly damaged Israel�s relations with Beijing, even though Israel agreed in March to reimburse China for some $200 million it had already paid for the aircraft and another $150 million in related damages and fees. But US policy toward India has shifted dramatically, and was changing even before Sept. 11, as outlined by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage in a detailed interview with The Washington Post published on Aug. 12, 2001. US policy in Asia, he said, would be based on �greater military planning, joint operations and eventual sharing of weapons technology with New Delhi.� India would be treated as a �strategic partner� in controlling the Indian Ocean. Washington�s unavoidable collaboration with Pakistan in the war against the Taleban and Al-Qaeda may have complicated this equation somewhat, but the principal US aim seems to be to contain China, which it fears will become a major threat over the next two decades or so, by bolstering India�s military capabilities and to gain a significant military presence in Southern and Central Asia, something that New Delhi had resisted for decades. How neatly Sept. 11 seems to have fitted in with US geopolitical objectives. Israel, as a key US ally and with its own security and economic interests in the region, is likely to be a willing partner in this enterprise, although an Israeli presence could well act as a spur to Islamic extremism. This seems to be an acceptable risk for all concerned and once again Israel would appear to have adroitly maneuvered itself into a beneficial position in terms of bolstering its widening security objectives and finding markets for its defense industries, which are increasingly reliant on exports. Indeed, as its relations with China were damaged by the Phalcon debacle, there have been suggestions that Israel should now forge a new strategic alliance on top of that with Turkey and the one that is clearly emerging with India, this time with Taiwan, which is now going all out to upgrade and expand its military capabilities and is always on the lookout for allies in its confrontation with Beijing. Both Taiwan and Israel share an institutionalized �special relationship� with the US, which has pledged to guarantee their defense, and enjoy bipartisan support from the US Congress. Taiwan certainly seems to be interested in promoting such an arrangement. China�s growing requirement for oil as it restructures its economy must inevitably push it into developing relations with producing countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, which will have to be at Israel�s expense, since it has no oil, so perhaps the notion of a US-Israel-Taiwan alliance is not so far-fetched. �A strategic triangle between the United States, Israel and Taiwan is the next logical step,� according to William Kristol, a prominent figure in America�s conservative establishment. Speaking at a March conference in Tel Aviv called East Asia and the Middle East: Strategic Linkages in an American-Dominated World, he said: �It�s certainly something worthy of public discussion, with missile defense being a key example of how these two key US allies can work together to further US interests over the next few years.� For now, Israeli officials, hoping to secure further contracts with China even though some of the weapons its sells to Beijing eventually could find their into Arab hands, are downbeat about a possible alliance with Taiwan. But the Americans would certainly feel more comfortable if Israel distanced itself from Beijing. It did not go down too well in Washington when the Chinese fighter jets shadowing a US Navy surveillance aircraft, which subsequently was forced down, were armed with Israeli-made Python air-to-air missiles. Israeli intelligence cooperation with India continues to expand. There are at least a dozen technical teams assisting India in upgrading its intelligence-gathering capabilities in Kashmir. But it is their relationship in the nuclear field that is the most alarming. The �father� of India�s nuclear weapons program, A.J.P. Abdul Kalam, has visited Israel several times over the years, twice in the 18 months before his country emerged as the world�s sixth official nuclear power in 1998. Now Abdul Kalam, a national hero in his homeland, has been nominated for president by the governing coalition in New Delhi and the opposition. His election would set the seal on India�s nuclear relationship with Israel. This was secretly forged in the 1970s, built on an earlier clandestine agreement nurtured by the Central Intelligence Agency, under which Israel helped supply India with conventional weapons. The nuclear pact accelerated in 1987 when Pakistan, already viewed with some suspicion by Israel, which feared Islamabad�s know-how could find its way to Arab states and Iran, was thought to be close to assembling a nuclear weapon. How extensive this relationship is remains unclear, but both Israel and India feel threatened by Pakistan�s nuclear arsenal. There are considerable suspicions that since Israel cannot conduct nuclear tests in its own backyard (since it refuses to admit that it has any such weapons), it may well have had its devices tested by India, which thus replaced the relationship it had with South Africa during the apartheid era. Israel has followed Pakistan�s nuclear weapons development with intense scrutiny and during the early 1980s the Mossad, Israel�s secret intelligence service, allegedly assassinated several European middlemen involved in supplying Islamabad with nuclear expertise and equipment � tactics it had employed during the 1960s to sabotage Egypt�s missile program and would use later to undermine Saddam Hussein�s quest for nuclear weapons. India recently announced that it was establishing a separate command structure for its nuclear and missile forces and it is highly likely that Israel, which has had nuclear weapons since the 1960s, has provided expertise in this regard. The recent sharpening of tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and George W. Bush�s widening war against Al-Qaeda and its ideological fellow travelers, have blurred the lines between South Asia and the Middle East, so the deepening relationship between Israel and Pakistan must be viewed with considerable concern. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
