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To: Red6

After the elections Iran is toast.


4 posted on 06/18/2006 7:40:43 PM PDT by John Lenin (The RAT party is still Stuck on Stupid)
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To: John Lenin
I fully believe that Russia (The true decision maker in this issue since they back Belarus and support their pseudo dictator there) is willing and able to deliver S300 missiles to Iran. Often such deals are done through "third party's". Much of the former Soviet hardware we have and analyze down to the last rivet is procured this way. A third party sells it to us. Many of the Stingers that got into Afghanistan did so through Pakistan. It's an old game.

In this case-

You have precedence. Russia in December 2005 already began with its first deliveries of the SA15, an advanced anti aircraft system. In Iraq Russia ensured GPS jammers were delivered last second before war began in 2003. While these systems were completely ineffective in Iraq, it was probably believed by them that they would have a profound effect in our JDAMS effectiveness. Nonetheless you have a precedence.

With Iran the situation is more extreme. Russia is a major trading partner with Iran. Russia wants the US presence in the Middle East and especially the Caucasus to end. They see this region as their sphere of influence. Look at the Russian meddling in the Ukraine or Republic of Georgia. Russia is the nation building the reactor in Iran. At the same time they offer themselves as a mediator in this issue. The latter is done purely to take the heat off of Iran. While the US try's to increase the pressure, the Russian through such political maneuvers attempt to diffuse the pressure. When the EU takes the lead and makes numerous statements about Iranian nonconformity and noncooperation in this issue, the Russians quickly politically beat the drum as loud as they can and try to rob the stage from them. The bottom line here is that Russia is Iran's largest ally. Russia can be expected to block anything in the UN, to de-legitimize any economic, political, or military options against Iran in the publics perception, and to arm Iran in such a way with "key" technology as to make any military option costly.

A system like S300/SA10C would significantly increase the difficulty of dealing with Iran in an aircampaign. This missile is in the class of missile comparable to Patriot.
5 posted on 06/18/2006 9:43:28 PM PDT by Red6
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