Was Russia's 'Arctic Sea' Carrying Missiles to Iran?

[bushmeister0]

Source: Time

"The highest-ranking official to put forward this version of events is the European Union's rapporteur on piracy and a former commander of the Estonian armed forces, Admiral Tarmo Kouts. In an interview with TIME, he says only a shipment of missiles could account for Russia's bizarre behavior throughout the monthlong saga. 'There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can't explain this situation in any other way,' he says. 'As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic . . .

On orders from the Kremlin, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov sent a completely disproportionate force, including destroyers and submarines, to look for the vessel. It took five days for them to find it, the Defense Ministry said, even though the Foreign Ministry later announced that it was fully aware of the Arctic Sea's coordinates the entire time. To fly the alleged pirates and the crew back to Moscow - a group of only 19 men - Russia dispatched two enormous military-cargo planes. And then on their arrival, the ship's crew was detained along with the alleged hijackers for days of questioning, with no access to their families or the media . . .

(and here's the kicker) But this theory, which some Russian analysts put forward in the days after the Arctic Sea was rescued and which Kouts agreed with in his interview with TIME, has been vehemently denied by Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitri Rogozin, who says Kouts should stop 'running his mouth.'"

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090831/wl_time/08599191934200

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. . . Because, if he doesn't, especially being an Estonian, he will be knocked off.

Rogozin is a loose cannon (even by Russian standards) and he's a total nutter. If he's saying it didn't happen, then you know it did.

If I were Admiral Tarmo Kouts, I'd be getting people to taste my soup and start my car for me.

[bushmeister0]

1. Oh yeah, and by the way, the day after the ship was "rescued"

Israeli President Shimon Peres made a surprise visit to Moscow . . .

" . . In an Aug. 18 statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that Peres had discussed 'the sale of Russian weapons and military hardware to countries hostile to Israel' with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, on that day during four hours of closed-door talks in the Russian city of Sochi. According to the statement, Peres 'stressed that Israel has concrete proof of Russian weapons being transferred to terrorist organizations by Iran and Syria, especially to Hamas and Hizballah.'"

Oh, nothing to see here, folks, move along. Move along.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

3. Linky? n/t

[The abyss]

2. Kind of a round about way to deliver some weapons.

Russia and Iran already share technology and are established trading partners. Why send anything around the long way and run the risk of discovery?

Doesn’t make much sense.

[audas]

4. Exactly -

They share an inland sea boarder and have plane built specifically for low sea skipping radar avoiding transfers of weapons to Iran - they have openly sold Iran the s-300 air defense system (yet to be delivered) and much, much more.

What is more telling about this story is the clear propaganda bent it has written all over it..once more, why not just hand it straight over the border ?

[bushmeister0]

6. The US has several radar stations in Azerbaijan aimed at the

Iranian/Russian border. Under normal circumstances, perhaps the Russians wouldn't care if the US knew what was going across the border, but maybe this time it was something really special? Who knows?

It is a long way round, but perhaps that was the point. No one would expect them to use a route like that. Well, except for the Israelis, I guess.

It's bizarre story, you have to admit. The Israeli angle is way more plausible than the Russian version of events, anyway.

[porcelain_doll]

5. k/r