On the Streets of Tripoli

Welcome to Your Security

In our new Simmer War, we are engaging in both non conventional and conventional attacks on our enemy. It is not the same as it was within the cold war, with a well defined enemy with national boundaries and most importantly a capital. This capital could be targeted from thousands of miles away and thousands of feet underground. No, this is the age of a boundless fear, fear of the person next to you on the plane, subway, taxi-cab, or crowded area. We have no contextualization of the “other side”, other then irrational stereotypes. We have no strategy to deal with the fear of attack. There is no safe guard strategy to rationalize terrorism.

But what we do have is an over-rated and rather ambiguous color system. In the United States we have the Homeland Security Advisory System. A system developed to alert the citizenry of the level of an impending terror attack. What is it? It is a color system based on a five-tear system ranging from low (green) to severe (red). But what do these colors mean for the everyday man? The system caused panic in the early stages of the implementation. Think the anthrax scares at the office of Senator Tom Daschle. In 2001 riding on the heels of the attacks on the World Trade Center, a color increase did little to promote awareness of the likely hood of an attack.

The color system needs to be changed in order to effectively promote a method of terror caution. What we have now as a system of prevention and caution awareness which is doing nothing to alert the everyday individual. Homeland Security Advisory System does little more then create mass hysteria. The system is flawed in its nature. Instead of alerting the public on possible actions and which can be taken to prevent attacks, the system makes the citizen helpless and afraid, leaving the full security to the federal authorities.

The Civil Defense system of our nation’s Cold War era was a system by which information was relayed and actions could be taken on the behalf of the citizenry. The CD (Civil Defense) system would alert via radio and television broadcasts of impending attacks from nuclear forces and what appropriate steps should be taken. Regular drills were held as a prevention tool. Education on what nuclear fission is what kind of damage it can do in weapons form and what the average citizen can do, were an integral part of the success of the CD.

On the Global War on Terror the Homeland Security Department has failed to reach the success of the CD system fifty years earlier. The CD was absorbed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, and all relative actives of the CD were now in the hands of the DHS. The DHS has failed to meet the simple guidelines which were established by the CD. The CD system was meant to keep the public involved in the affairs of its national security. The CD system gave the public a way to understand the threat of the nuclear bomb, take the necessary steps to prevent mass casualties, and practice drills, which could give some confidence in the general population. This was manner in which the general population could contextualize the fear of nuclear weapons attack and take measures to keep themselves and their families safe.

The DHS has provided no such system for the terror threat, no drills, no information, only a color scheme. However the question can be posed, what drills can the DHS give to the population? The answer is simple; give the population the basic terror prevention techniques known to the government, in addition to relying on the federal and state authorities for prevention. The key to the success of the CD was national citizen involvement, the DHS has kept the information painfully secret, and this has a vicious backlash of fear which presides over the homeland.

The DHS must provide the citizenry of the U.S. with information on a scale seen at the time of the CD. Mass publications of standardized material of facts and prevention techniques would be the tools by which to give contextualization to the war on terror. Terror as seen as an ominous unstoppable force will only embolden the terrorists and their goals. By informing the public of main targets of terror, typical methods of terror attacks, suspicious activity recognition, will give the ability to the citizen to participate in his or her national security. This will prove to be the vital tool on the war on terror.

Anarchy for profit.

It has been fifteen years since the central government collapsed in Somalia, since that time the United States has entered once, then withdrew and now it is entering again. Not with troops, something even more dangerous, funding.

The United States as an aid package to the Somali’s 14th transitional government is pledging one hundred million dollars for the rebuilding of the state, and to fight the Global War on Terror from its angle. One would think that with that kind of funding the central authority can pull itself up by the boot straps and create order in a nation known for its fierce way of life. Then again one would think.

The nation of Somalia, especially its capital of Mogadishu is in a state of ultra capitalism, anything and everything is for sale. As the central government collapsed in 1991, the citizen of Mogadishu found themselves unprotected by a national army or police, and took it upon themselves for their own protection. Mogadishu is a host to a series of drug kingpins, arms bazaars, warlords, mercenaries, and the movement of privatization.
According to the New York Times,

“Businessmen opened their own hospitals, schools, telephone companies and even privatized mail services. Men who were able to muster private armies, often former military officers, seized the biggest prizes: abandoned government property, like ports and airfields, which could generate as much as $40,000 a day. They became the warlords. Many trafficked in guns and drugs and taxed their fellow Somalis.”

The new business in Mogadishu is exactly that, new private enterprises unregulated, untaxed and highly exploitative are developing and keeping the citizens alive. This the new generation of privateers is one which rejects the rule of a government, because it will destroy the crafted racket which they have created.

Omar Hussein Ahmed, an olive oil exporter in Mogadishu, the capital, said he and a group of fellow traders recently bought missiles to shoot at government soldiers.
“Taxes are annoying,” he explained.

As the transitional authority is trying to establish some form of authority and security for the citizens, ironically it is the businesses which keep the government afloat which is undermine the ability of the government to achieve its end. These businesses are feeling the pinch of the government; recently port taxes were increased 300%. This would be likely to destroy small time operations which undermine the ability of the government to provide services and goods under an established and regulated system.

The U.S. aid package needs to be heavily monitored in order to avoid massive aid embezzlement. As seen in the past money has a way of sprouting legs and just walking off never to be seen again. If this were to occur in a nation, with an entire generation of males who know nothing but violence we could be expecting to see crates of the latest small arms ready for distribution among the warlords who stand to profit from the transfer, not foodstuffs.

Petrol-politics and the Sword

As international demand for oil becomes that much more of an issue for the international market; the ability of nations to secure a stable source for oil import is a top national security issue for nations which see it as a vital tool for their economic survival.

Oil? As a national security priority? The idea may seem out of touch with reality, however the attacks on the oil filed in Ethiopia’s Somali region brings the agenda front and center. The attacks were claimed by the local revolutionary front the Ogaden National Liberation front. A spokesman for the group claimed responsibility. The attacks of about 200 fighters on the oil field of Abole killed 74 people including 9 Chinese oil workers and the rebel group took hostage 7 other Chinese nationals.

What were the causes for this attack? The Ogaden National Liberation Front, (ONLF) has been pushed out of their traditional areas of settlement by the Ethiopian troops. The traditional lands once prized and revered by these nomadic peoples are now up on the auction block to the highest bidder, and it seem China is one to offer the most for it. The People’s Republic of China must secure an oil supply for its seemingly unstoppable economy. China is pouring vast amounts into the continent to show its support for Africa, and at the same time gain oil drilling and import contracts from key states that are brimming with excitement to see this aid.

But what of the peoples which inhabit this area? The ONLF is responding to this threat with violence. Globalization has pushed nations to prod for resources, and that prodding will stir feathers. This will be round one in the new war for oil, and with China and Ethiopia’s human rights record, it wont be a pretty one. The government response to this will be a harsh crackdown on the ONLF, the government needs these contracts with the Chinese government to fund its national economy. Ethiopia is establishing itself as a regional power within the region, and will use any tool to secure that position.

Human Rights record of Ethiopia 2006
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78734.htm

The African War on Terror

Africa, a continent riddled with conflict, genocide, mass rape, mass torture, child soldiers, illegal arms bazaars, drug trafficking, wandering militias, and a key ally to the war on terror?

It makes sense. The US government in its global war on terror should have an ally in the continent. Somalia the worlds largest on going conflict, has been known to harbor Al-Qaeda members. But when we think of Africa, do we really think that it would be a place where human rights and fair trials are a common occurrence?

"Nothing has been done in secret. All legal procedures are being followed and the suspected terrorists have been allowed to appear before the relevant court of law."

Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The government of Ethiopia would be a shining example for an ally on the Global War on Terror, not to be confused with the War on Terror which is a domestic occurrence. Ethiopia is a bordering nation of that beacon of freedom Somalia. Which in 1993 the Clinton administration sent in the special forces to capture the head of the largest militia...well you have seen the movie.

As much as the international community should trust the words of the Ethiopian Minister, we must not forget the past. Ethiopia is a nation in which, according to Human Rights Watch

making dozens "disappear" and US security agents of routinely interrogating people held incommunicado.

Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chad, any nation could be tempted by the prospect of helping the US on the Global War on Terror. The economic "incentives" would be far to great to pass on. However looking at the history of the continent and the present actions of the Bush Administrations brings about several questions.

1. Why Ethiopia, which has a poor human rights record, to proceed over the trials
2. Are they even trials, or summary judgement.
3. What is preventing the government of Ethiopia from just making the "detainee" disappear.

Africa is a poor location for anything legal or democratic in the high-minded US sense of the term. Africa has been exploited in the past for its economic resources and labor and now its being exploited for its "legal" system.

Largest gun market in the world

VICE Travel: Darra, Pakistan
Uploaded by Top-Notch112

Where do we stand?

The future of Iraqi civilians, what impact did we make?

Mercs, PMC, Soldier?

As the week of documentary rolls on, Private military companies (PMC) are creating quite a situation for the moral question of war. Frontline tackles the question of contracting in Iraq.

Ground control to major _______

What was the old addage, a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, then what is a documentary worth, with 30 pictures per second.

Shia death squads, if you are informed you know of them, if you are not you have heard about them, if you want to know the whole story...watch on.

You think you are watching the truth?

Increased technological advancement has television networks deciding what we should see. A real image has not become available. 24 hour televison has made it seem that we have a more informed public, and that we can see the whole picutre.
A devistating documentary is providing an alternate view



dont watch tv. Go read a paper.

Russia, Democracy, and Ivan's legacy

A posting in Travis Conn webblog starts with this point

The Russian government once again proves to us it’s lack of commitment to democratic ideals. On Saturday an unusually large crowd of anti-Putin demonstrators clashed with police resulting in over 100 arrests.

Rationally, does this really shock anyone? For centuries the Russian "motherland" has been dominated by authoritarian figures. Repression, fear, and statesim was the key to the success of the Tsarist rule. Security concerns have led to the need for the rigid control. Surrounded and open to attack, the geography of the Tsarist empire has led to the history of repression. Repression not out of pre-autocide notions of state control, but the fear that outside invaders would demise the national security. Empire security led to the purging of Tsarist Russia, a trend which continued long into the Soviet Era.

So now that our ally in the East has a fresh 18 year democracy, do we really expect them to follow the "rules" of democratic states? I propose no. History is a simple indicator of future trends. Follow the past to find the future. The Russian federation is ingrained with the aspect of governance in which more control is equal to more security, and more security equals more freedom. Freedom from invasion, both imaginary and real.

Now we hear the news that a mob of demonstrators, anti-government, was beaten by the Russian internal security division. What a shock! an anti government crowd with the agenda of changing the government attacked and arrested. Think back to the Ivan the Terrible days of the Tsarist era. The crowd would have been murdered, the leaders impaled on hot rods (alive) so that the citizenry would know the retribution of the government, and a village on the periphery of the empire would be to blame and it would be leveled killing all who dwell within it.

Its the new hip thing now in US centric foreign politics to cut slack on "democracy" values in order to solidify security, both imaginary and real. But to what extent can democracy survive in an era which promotes the Ivan. Lets just ask Ivan V Vasilyevich.

What you really need to know.

What is going on in Iran? Space rockets for scientific research?

High school physics, a little detective work and we can prove the contrary.

SCUD????

Brining Containment Back.

As the policy think tanks in Washington as well as thousands of organizations, private citizens, and crack pots throw in their views on the "Axis of Evil" and what the US should do about this new wave of terror, we must not forget our history of evil empires.
Ian Shapiro's makes a very convincing argument about the rehashing of the Cold War policy of containment by X, George Kennan

Kennan was convinced that arguing with the Soviets was a waste of time. The United States should focus, he believed, on what our enemies did rather than what they said, assuming they would act in response to their interests, not to our arguments. And it works.

Action based on interests, a rationality policy, a policy to which in the new era of global politics does not fit well with the scare tactics of anti "radical Islam" policy. Argument leads no to policy, no action and endless rhetoric. Rhetoric which wins elections, but hardly maintain any semblance of national security. Anarchy within our international system is the driving force behind actions, no one country can dominate the world, set the global agenda, and maintain any of it.
With out this rationality the US and its foreign policy is doomed to spend the rest of its existence frozen within the era of US dominance through its allies. As globalization breaks free the necessity if US involvements within the national economy of its allies, gaps will develop. These gaps in US want and ally need, will create a vast sink hole in US based foreign policy.

Containment is not obsolete. The Bush doctrine is

Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Russian president Putin's critique of US foreign policy, and what the US had to say about it.

Lock the doors.

Hide the children.

Place all your bets.

Come out swinging.

Its a flash, duck and cover!

A few weeks ago, I made a post reflecting on the missile delivery system delivered to the nation of Iran by the Russian federation. I guess that the system got there.

Iranian state television on Wednesday showed several missiles from the TOR-M1 system being fired in the desert from mobile vehicle launchers and then successfully taking out their targets in the sky.

The United States was quick to respond to the 29 unit contract by the Iranian government.

"We don't think that it's an appropriate signal to be sending ... particularly when they are under UN sanctions for trying to develop a nuclear weapon, and when they continue to be in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions," deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in January.

With the current level of over the Iranian nuclear program and with the US at the edge of no- mans-land of that tension, the addition of these defensive measures to protect Iranian air space is something to be followed. Iranian rhetoric is reaching the point of no return, conflict might not be too far off in an assumption. The leaders in Iran know that conflict with the US could be a possibility and as a result they are gearing up for a possible attack. As the "Decision Maker" is making the best decisions for our National Security, ( remember this?) conflict within a second theater could be a possibility. Ill see you in the draft line.

"Imagine a September eleventh with weapons of mass destruction. It's not three thousand – it's tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children."

President Bush
United Nations General Assembly, New York
September 12, 2002

Fear Fear Fear.
The Cold War never dies, it just takes a new persona.

www. terrorist know google. com

As reported in the Telegraph.

Terrorists attacking British bases in Basra are using aerial footage displayed by the Google Earth internet tool to pinpoint their attacks, say Army intelligence sources.


Google used as a weapon of war. The information revolution used by the revolutionaries.

Great Conversation

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7097114833602283925&q=bernard+henry+levy

A great episode of the Charlie Rose program, a great conversation with Bernard Henry Levy at the second half. Covering topics of non-reported conflicts around the world.

Milton Friedman

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6813529239937418232&q=milton+friedman&hl=en

Miltion Freindman, "was the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century…possibly of all of it."

China. China. China.

With a anti-satellite program successfully tested, record economic growth, military spending on the rise, international investments in Africa, China is on the go, but where?
The anti-satellite weapon test of January the 19th in which an obsolete Chinese weather satellite was destroyed, brought about some concern as to the military implications to the weaponization of space the possible implications on treaties, and the "health" of our space.
“The principled position of the Chinese government is that we stand for the peaceful use of space,” said spokesman Liu Jianchao. “We are against the introduction of weapons into space.” However the reaction of many international leaders was one of alarm. A Chinese ballistic missile launched from a mobile vehicle, which can destroy an orbiting satellite sounds like a throw back to the great "star wars" program under the Regan administration. The threat from theis weaponry is very real to US and international civilian and military satellite programs.
The "health" of space is taken into question along with this debate. The debris from the destruction of these obsolete programs can place current operational space programs into jeopardy, however unlikely that small chance is, is one which the US government is not taking lightly. The US is watching the situation very closely, "A Bush administration official said the Chinese had conducted three other tests between September 2004 and February 2006. Another senior administration official said the earlier missile launches were “mostly successful” but were intended to test parts of the anti-satellite system before conducting a final test."
What direction will the Chinese take this action? The talk of missiles, missiles, missiles, the current buzz word of the international conflict map. From Lebanon, Iran, North Korea, even the US, missiles and missile defense is all the rage in military hardware. China is now taking the step of showing its muscle in the security sphere. China too has the economic might to back such a program, with a growing economy, a "boom in exports that generated a trade surplus of $177.47bn last year." The national economy of the People's Republic is likely to keep the momentum on military spending. With the economy growth rate up to 10.7%, and military spending up to 36 billion dollars, a 15% increase from last year's military budget, China perhaps is looking for a strategy to keep itself from being left behind. A strategy of placing pressure on Washington to see Beijing as still relevant, and to place pressure on the international community to show the might and growth of the Chinese nation. With greater prestige in the international community so to comes great responsibility, China will have to live up to that bargain as it plays its full house.

The US Citizen: A Case of Waterlog

As the global community is expanding to a degree not seen within our human history, where a child in Peking can speak to a child in Detroit over the internet, where 20,000 tons of potatoes is directed by satellite as it crosses the Atlantic ocean, the individual citizen is bombarded with information. Bombarded with facts, body counts, trade deficit reports, advertisements for hemroid cream, it is enough to drive the sane citizen insane, and it has. It has created a population devoid of understanding and constantly asking, why us?

The massive influx of information has caused a great decline in the need of understanding current events. A general malaise has set into the way that the modern citizen informs themselves. What is to blame for the lack of luster for the most important aspect in a globalizing and constantly shifting political-economic world? How will the US respond to these new changes in the global political sphere? As Thomas Jefferson said to Charles Yancey in 1816, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Ignorance is the death of free will, and as such the United States has made it a point from its conception for a well informed citizenry to take its education and the education of its future generations very seriously.

So then what has happened to that great educational spirit of the past? Has it faded, or has the means by which people acquire that knowledge driven them to avoid it altogether. The newspaper, television, radio, and the internet are all the modern means to acquire this information, to keep a well informed citizenry healthy and productive. What in all common practice what is the largest form of these modern means? The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press/Project for Excellence in Journalism survey in June of 2005 asked: "How have you been getting most of your news about national and international issues -- from television, from newspapers, from radio, from magazines, or from the Internet?" The data was as follows; 74% Television, 44% newspapers, 22% Radio, 5% Magazines, and 24% Internet. Almost three quarters of the American population receives their news from the television.

Which brings a very large question into the fray, how do these news networks provide for their income? Not off of the good of the education spirit, but by advertising. The media networks grow based off of ratings, nightly hits to websites, or monthly subscriptions to magazines, these all must be taken into account when understanding the global media system. Television needs to be sensationalized in order to attract an audience. Which is the basic marketing for any media outlet, however when it comes to important issues of the day, sensationalism and over reporting will impact the over all effectiveness of the media. Scare tactics are a known factor in news reporting. We are all familiar with these tactics; killer bees, Y2K, and other phenomena which were suppose to have wiped out all of humanity have yet to hit. But they are reported with such ferocity that we can assume the threat is immediate. By the time the actual issues of trade or international relations are reported, the viewer has been scared to death, and immediately drives to buy duct tape to avoid the impending anthrax attacks.

What has happened to our media? What has happened to our need for information and trust within out system? A Gallup-Poll of Sept. 13-15, 2004, asked this question. “In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media -- such as newspapers, TV and radio -- when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately and fairly: a great deal, a fair amount, not very much, or none at all?" 9% a great deal, 35% a fair amount, 39% not very much, 16 % not at all. The data suggests that 55% of the persons polled did not trust the accuracy of the mass media. More then half of the persons polled would not decide to trust the media and dismiss the information as faulty or “spun” for a political or economic purpose.

One would assume that in the light of the September 11th attacks that the citizens of the US would watch what was unfolding around the globe, but yet again one would assume. “The tragedies of Sept. 11 more than doubled the size of the evening network news audience from 13 percent of American adults in the week of Sept. 3 to more than 26 percent in the week of Sept. 10. However, as impressive as this may seem, the January 2001 Super Bowl attracted about the same number of viewers. Moreover, the evening news audience just as swiftly contracted to 15 percent of American adults in the week of September 17-23 and never rose more than one-and-a-half percentage points above that level in the following seven months," according to Scott Althaus, a UI professor of speech communication and political science. The American public distrusts the media; even so much as to avoid maintaining their knowledge on international affairs despite the largest shift in political-economic power since the end Cold War.

The drive of the American citizen to understand and to create opinions based off of fact is a disappearing act. In a report published in the Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, Vol. 1, No. 2, 10-29 (1996), stated, “We conclude that people learn about foreign affairs due to their opportunity, defined by their location in the social structure, and their motivation, indexed by attention paid to news accounts of world politics. The better educated and more politically attentive citizens also proved to be more informed in each country, whereas citizens who most often watched popular television entertainment programs proved to be less informed about foreign affairs.” Popular television is the basis of much of our media industry, and if it is the popular television programs which are rotting our national knowledge of events, what does that say about or state as a well informed nation?

As Americans reflect on their international appeal to other nations, the message must be getting around. In a poll conducted by 26,381 respondents across 25 countries by the BBC, “Among the 25 countries polled, the most common view in 18 of them is that the United States is having a mainly negative influence…A majority of Americans (57%) say that the US is having a mainly positive influence in the world. This is down from 63 percent a year ago and 71 percent two years ago.”

As the facts pour in on the subject, the American citizen is less informed and even less liked globally. As of late the current attitude is one which has stood since the end of World War 2, America is number one, and nothing which happens globally will affect the attitudes and behaviors of the American citizens. A US-centric globe has existed and in the eyes of many and the US-centric approach has worked in the past and will continue to work into the future, but to what extent. With the evolution of our international communications and global reach, US-centrist is constantly under attack. Globalization has led to the collapse of the US-centric approach to international affairs. Citizens now must inform themselves about the issues of the day, as new powers are emerging on the world stage. Are Americans up to this challenge, the answer is an overwhelming no.

However the US is not doomed to spend the rest of its existence floating lost in a sea of competition. The media which it has depended on for so long has let the citizenry down. The mass marketing of the media to the public, scare tactics, over reportage, the lost of direction for the press itself, has caused the meltdown of public awareness. The attitudes of the US citizens reflect this loss of sight. This is a very dangerous age to be living in, at the height of a great multicultural and global environment, news is no longer news, facts are no longer facts, and the age of reportage is simply dismissed. Political discussion has fallen to the new episode of the Real World, The View, Lost, or many of the “popular television” programs which are eating away at the core of our intelligentsia. In our current situation, the majority of the US can afford to be left out of the loop, to not care about the consequences of global conflict on the price of their new appliances, or their wholesale goods at Costco.

Only when conflicts are sensationalized do Americans become aware and become involved. It is a sad state of affairs that it takes big Hollywood celebrities, in over dramatized films, to get the citizenry to “wake up” to the issues, when the issues have been there over looked and forgotten just as quickly. That might be what it takes for a citizenry which is accustomed and expects, life to imitate what they are shown everyday in the “popular television” programming. Only 24% of the population receives their news from internet resources, a small percentage of the population, but in comparison to the other media forms, a massive percentage. The internet could be the breaking ground for the new informed citizen, one who has direct access to information, others who are willing to show a perspective, or others who have the desire to share information which would not be classified as “news worthy” to the top mass media outlets. Information important to the well being of the nation, but is not appealing to the scandal ridden stories of the front page.

As globalization is the new form of global evolution, inter-continental connectivity maybe our nation’s only hope for an enlightened population. It is also up to the citizenry to make that decision. Information cannot be forcibly jammed down the throats of every voting person. It is the collective responsibility to have a nation which is active in its political atmosphere. A nation which questions the political handlings of its leaders, and makes informed decisions based off of facts and data. Not information processed through the numbers board, and test groups, to see if it will create a spur among the nightly news viewers. Only then will we not descend into the political pitfall which Jefferson had written on, it expects what never was and never will be.

Another Gem

"Christmas is for children, and I don't like children" Karl Lagerfeld. No bounds for the busiest man in fashion.

Missle Defense

The Russian Federation has delivered new anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran and will consider further requests by Tehran for defensive weapons, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Tuesday.This one billion dollar deal is set to deliver the TOR-M1 system developed in the Russian federation for anti-aircraft purposes.
This new system delivery throws a huge block in the weapons ban placed on the Iranian nation. "We have supplied the modern short-range anti-aircraft systems TOR-M1 in accordance with our contracts," Ivanov told reporters. "Iran is not under sanctions and if it wants to buy defensive ... equipment for its armed forces then why not?"
This type of attitude is the essential key to understanding the defense industry and international relations. When nations feel that its in their best interests to develop their defense the rule of international anarchy will prevail. A sanction is only as strong as the nations which enforce it, and when billions are involved, a sanction can be manipulated to serve an economic purpose.
These new systems will also serve a key defense position against possible military agression by the air of any power which wishes to see its nuclear program disabled. Perhaps Tehran is trying to avoid a repeat of the Israeli 1981 attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor Osraik.
Whatever the goals of the nation, the increase in weapons systems will undoubtedly cause many feathers to be ruffled in the State Department.