US, Gulf States to Develop Regional Ballistic Missile Defense System

… from  Sputnik News,  Moscow

[ Editor’s Note: The US Mideast foreign policy circus continues to put on its clown show. After years of being threatened with unending preemptive attack by Israel and the US, and the sanctions, Iran labored to beef up its defenses. And the pesky Russians even canceled delivery of the S-300’s, even though they are a defensive weapon.

I have long editorialized here that all are defensive moves against economic domination by the US and the international crime syndicate, which are determined to keep their cash register going that is based on world instability and a steady supply of new wars.

As the West’s false claims of Iranian nuclear threats become exposed, they are replaced with Iran’s reasonable defensive measures against the real economic and military threat by the US, but this is spun as a new validation that “the threat” has always been real. The entire discussion often requires that we forget overnight that “the Iran nuke threat” was recently and totally debunked.

Except for VT, no one in US corporate media wrote anything on how the P5+1 nuclear agreement admitted that there was no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, as no demands were made to dismantle it. Not the least part in this grand charade was the pathological liars in Israel, who are unable to release all of their “secret proof” they should have if their claims were true… Fairy dust.

The ground to ground missiles sent this week to the UAE are clearly offensive, and a huge escalation. It paves the way for a mutual defense treaty with Russia, China, and even India, in which an attack on one of them would be considered and attack on all. That will bring us all the way back to square one on the New Cold War, as it echoes the historical Cold War.

Also, just touched upon, is what clearly seems to be the creation of an “Arab NATO” as a back up to Europe’s refusal to divert precious investment capital to the gangsters in the defense industries, away from all the dire civilian needs. Of course, to think that Arab countries would be able to do anything together on a large scale militarily is a bad joke.

This looks to me like a shotgun marriage, where the wealthy Gulf States will keep funding the defense industry to keep our production lines going and per unit cost lower (theoretically), while the poorer Arab states will contribute the cannon fodder troops, which no one in the Gulf really intends to do.

One of the scandals where is how their military structure hires substitutes to replace them. These people are actually being trained by US specialists, and but are ordered to keep their mouths shut about it. This is primarily a pretend-an-officer-corps issue, where a tribal guy plays the fighter pilot role and collects the $300,000 per year, but has a Pakistani filling his shoes.

I cannot begin to describe the contempt in which these people are held by the rank-and-file US trainers. And this includes paying someone in a class to put a digital recorder in an empty seat, which allows the missing person to be logged in as “attending”. And of course someone else takes the tests for them. These individuals are not a 3-dollar bill, but a buck fifty… Jim W. Dean ]

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–  First published  …  May 14, 2015  –

After meeting at Camp David on Thursday, President Obama and the Gulf Cooperation Council announced the creation of a regional missile defense system, which Washington has been pushing for some time. Gulf countries also promised to consult with the United States before taking any military actions beyond their borders.

The plan, however, seemed to be jeopardized by the absence of Saudi King Salman and other leaders who refused to attend the summit, openly demonstrating their disagreement over the deal with Tehran. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Bahrain all sent lower-ranked delegations to attend the meeting with Obama.

Nevertheless, after the conclusion of the summit, the Gulf Cooperation Council announced that a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran is in the interests of its countries, despite the “destabilizing activities” of the Islamic Republic which they pledged to counter.

From its side, the United States pledged to fast-track the shipment of advanced defense weapons to the Gulf states. A notable exclusion from the arms list is the F-35 Joint Striker aircraft. Despite requests from Arab countries, Washington refused to export the fifth-generation fighter jets to them.

“The United States will help conduct a study of GCC ballistic missile defense architecture and offered technical assistance in the development of a GCC-wide Ballistic Missile Early Warning system,” reads a statement released by the White House.

On the eve of the meeting with Obama, Saudi Arabian officials announced that they will be pushing the development of their own nuclear capabilities on par with Iran.

“We can’t sit back and be nowhere as Iran is allowed to retain much of its capability and amass its research,” one anonymous Saudi delegate told the New York Times before the meeting began.

However, Obama seemed hopeful that the deal with Iran would prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

“If we can get a comprehensive verifiable deal that cuts off the pathways to a nuclear weapon, that would be in their interests and the interests of the region as well as the world community,” he said.

The deadline for a finalized agreement on the Iran nuclear program is June 30.

Jim W. Dean

Jim W. Dean was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022.  He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews.

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