-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS Russia relying on arms-sales diplomacy Moscow intent on renewing old alliances with military hardware ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- By Jon Dougherty © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com The Russian government -- economically challenged through much of the 1990s and frustrated with its declining influence around the world -- has launched a new diplomatic effort aimed at reinvigorating old Cold War alliances and making new friends by increasing its arms sales. In many cases, Moscow is hawking its most sophisticated weapons systems at bargain prices. And though much of its arms trade has been focused on two nations, Russia is beginning to cultivate many new clients who are unable to manufacture their own weaponry or are starved for technology. Worse, Moscow is increasingly willing to sell sophisticated weaponry to countries that have been historically opposed to the U.S. or could become peer competitors to Washington in the next decade. >From the top The decisions being made to revamp Russia's once-ailing military-industrial complex are not necessarily being made within the industry. Rather, they are coming from the top of the Russian government, as President Vladimir Putin has adopted a much more aggressive foreign policy approach than his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. "Since his election as president of Russia in March 2000, Vladimir Putin has embarked on an intense effort to enhance Russia's international status and return it to the ranks of the world's great powers," said a Jan. 18 paper authored by Dr. Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., research fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies in the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation. "This effort includes strengthening Russia's influence with its neighbors, states in the Middle East, and the Europe Union," Cohen said. "Heavily influenced by the agenda of former Prime Minister Evgeny Primakov, who advocated creation of a 'multipolar' world in which America's status and power decline, Putin is using arms sales and energy exports to expand Russia's spheres of influence," said the Heritage expert. "Moscow continues to value arms and technology sales as a major source of funds," CIA Director George Tenet said in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee Feb. 7. Russia "is increasingly using them as a tool to improve ties to its regional partners ..." he noted, adding that Moscow is supplying all kinds of conventional weapons technology -- including ballistic missile technology -- to client states. Burgeoning arms sales Most of Russia's "arms-sales diplomacy" has focused on China and India, who buy 70 percent of Moscow's arms exports. However, Russia is expanding its influence by way of such sales throughout Asia and the Middle East. China has become a top importer of Russian military equipment and systems, which is ironic given the historical animosity between Beijing and the former Soviet Union. Russian warship fires the supersonic Sunburn missile during naval exercises. Nevertheless, Russia has agreed to sell China sophisticated Sovremmeny-class destroyers, "Sunburn" anti-ship missiles, and advanced Sukoi Su-30 MKK fighter aircraft. Also, both nations have agreed to cooperate on the joint development of new military technologies, including so-called "asymmetrical" warfare (cyberwarfare) technology aimed at curbing U.S. dominance in this area. The second largest Russian military customer has been India. New Delhi has managed to purchase everything from tanks to fighter aircraft, to completely refurbished aircraft carriers. Iran has also become a top Russian military arms customer. Specifically, Russia is assisting Iran in building a nuclear reactor in the 1,000-megawatt range at the Persian Gulf port city of Bushehr -- the project is 90 percent complete and should be finished by 2003. The Bushehr reactor is one of two Russia is helping Iran build; Moscow is also constructing two in India and another pair in China. Also, Iran has purchased anti-ship missiles and Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines from Moscow, and is considering a new $7 billion arms deal that includes modern short-range air-defense missiles and other equipment. Russia has also sold weapons to Libya and last week signed a new military "cooperation agreement" with its old ally, Vietnam. To underscore Russia's renewed commitment to diplomacy through arms sales, Moscow's sales figures rose 22 percent last year alone to $4.5 billion (by comparison, the U.S. sold $11.8 billion in weapons in 1999, making it the largest arms seller in the world). That number, said a Knight-Ridder report on Wednesday, is only about one-quarter of the average $20 billion a year in sales by the former Soviet Union, but it was Moscow's largest sales figure in 10 years. And, analysts have said Russia's share of the global arms market could rise to 15 percent by the end of 2001. Russia has an estimated 1,700 defense plants, many of which have been idled since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ironically, however, with a shrinking defense budget Moscow cannot afford to buy many of the advanced systems it is selling to client states. Also, last year Putin ordered a reshuffling of Russia's arms export system, Knight Ridder said, which ultimately gave him and the military greater control and dominance over international sales. At the same time, Russia has adopted western-style marketing techniques such as glitzy promotions and cut-rate prices in order to gain more weapons customers. For example, Knight Ridder said, Russian sales representatives at the recent Aero India 2001 international air show "handed out English language brochures explaining the merits of advanced warplanes such as the MiG-29 and the Su-30. Giant television screens showed jets and helicopters swooping through the skies. A sales poster for the MiG-31 supersonic interceptor touted its 'unique performance. ...'" "Under Putin, [Russia] they've got a better system," Paul Beaver of Jane's Defense Group told the news service. "They're much better at marketing. They're much better at sales. They know what they're doing." Sales fueling concerns However, Russia's increasing "arms-sales diplomacy" is causing natural concern in the U.S. especially, because many of Moscow's sales are being made to competitor nations and countries that have traditional rivalries with Washington. Also, experts say substantially cheaper workforces in Russia permit Moscow to sell weapons systems that are advanced and competitive at much lower prices than Western equipment. In one example, Russia recently sold Kiev-class aircraft carriers to India and China for "scrap metal prices" of $2 to $3 million each; meanwhile, Spain sold a much smaller aircraft carrier to Thailand in 1996 for $200 million, Knight Ridder said. China, for instance, is not only buying advanced Russian weapons, but is negotiating with Moscow to build many of them under license, including jet fighters and missile systems. Experts say ordinarily that wouldn't in and of itself present a major problem, but Beijing -- in several defense "white papers" published throughout the latter 1990s -- has said it is developing a more modern military force to directly compete with the U.S. in the event of a crisis over Taiwan or other regions. Speaking of Russian-made "Sunburn" anti-ship missiles, one U.S. defense official told Knight Ridder the missiles "worry me." "It's a question of our survival in the Northeast Asia area," the official added. Reverse diplomacy One of the reasons -- perhaps the main reason -- Russia may be resorting to increased arms sales as a way to influence old allies and new friends is the United States' overwhelming influence and advantage in key areas: diplomacy and military power. In particular, analysts say, Russia -- as well as China -- is worried that a proposed U.S. missile defense shield will eventually weaken Moscow even more by mitigating the potential threat of Russia's aging nuclear arsenal. China feels the same way and probably more so, experts say, because it has a much smaller, more technologically challenged arsenal. But that also means the Bush administration may have a few cards to play in any attempt to convince Russia to curb sales of exotic weapons systems to competitor nations. "Clearly, [President] Bush must offer Putin an open hand" early on in his administration, Heritage's Cohen said. "However, if Putin and Moscow refuse to cooperate with the Bush administration in such areas as missile defense, weapons proliferation, and regional security, the president must make it clear that U.S. support for Russia's priorities, such as debt rescheduling, cannot be guaranteed," he added. Putin's offer in mid-February to work with the U.S. and NATO to assuage Russian disagreement and alarm over the deployment of the system "creates an important opportunity for the United States to engage Russia in a cooperative effort to develop a missile shield," wrote Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay, both senior fellows in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institute, in a Feb. 27 New York Times editorial. "A joint program of Russia and NATO to defend against possible missile attacks from countries like North Korea, Iran and Iraq would address Europe's two main worries about the Bush administration's commitment to building an antimissile system: that it could trigger a new Cold War with Russia and that it would signify an American search for unilateral advantage," Daalder and Lindsay said. "At a time when many in Moscow view NATO with distrust, a major Russian-NATO initiative to deal with one of the principal threats to international security could place relations between the United States, Europe and Russia on a new and more constructive footing," they wrote. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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