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(Video) Israel Navy chief says seized Francop vessel carried enough weapons and ammunition to supply Hezbollah for month or more of fighting against Israel. Navy chief: 'Ship's crew didn't know anything about it. Neither did Egyptians.' Barak: This will not be Iran's last smuggling attempt VIDEO - "The quantity of arms seized on the weapons ship Francop is 10 times or even more than the quantity of weapons on the Karin-A ship," said Israel Deputy Navy Chief Brig. Gen. Rani Ben-Yehuda told reporters during a briefing Wednesday at the naval base in Ashdod. The Francop weapons ship that was seized...

This Iraqi Security Force Update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during October 2009. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle as of 31 October 2009 is published at Montrose Toast. Joint Special Forces Strike Teams [Battalions] In late 2007, Prime Minister Maliki announced plans for “elite” quick reaction force (QRF) battalions in the Iraqi Army. These battalions were to be equipped with the most modern light armor and used for counter-insurgency. During the same time-period, eight battalions worth [336] of BTR-3E1 armored personnel carriers were ordered via US Foreign Military Sales. The BTR-3E1s were cancelled in 2008...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Russia has opened a $2.2 billion line of credit for Venezuela to purchase weapons including armored vehicles and surface-to-air missiles, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday. Venezuela is buying more arms because it feels threatened by Colombia's decision to give U.S. troops greater access to its military bases, Chavez said. Repeating a frequent theme of his presidency, the socialist leader said the United States would like to invade Venezuela and seize the country's oil fields. He said the bases in Colombia could help the U.S. stage such an attack.

According to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the most effective way to stop the Iranian Islamist regime from acquiring nukes, is to threaten them with a military build-up of other Islamist regimes: "US allies in the Middle East should strengthen their respective militaries to deter Iran from continuing its suspected nuclear weapons program..." If by that, Gates meant supplying Israel with all the bunker busters, refueling aircraft, and F22's it has sought to purchase, that might cause the mullahs knees to knock. But since the U.S. Administration has denied Israel purchase of bunker busters and refueling aircraft, certainly needed for...

WASHINGTON — At last, the secret to first lady Michelle Obama's sculpted arms? Tricep pushdowns and hammer curls.

The hidden Hizbullah arms cache in southern Lebanon that exploded in July contained chemical weapons, and three Hizbullah terrorists died as a result of the toxins, in addition to eight other terrorists killed by the blast, the Kuwaiti newspaper Alseyassah Kuwait said on Thursday.

A Florida man born without arms says a Tampa bank would not let him cash a check because he couldn't provide a thumbprint.

They Died With Gucci's On /snip Satellite photos show that construction of new facilities continues in the suburbs of the capital, where the elite families live. There is no let-up in the importing of luxury goods, including automobiles. The leaders in the north are determined to go down with their Gucci's on. One thing the elite cannot have is cell phones. The use of such devices was made legal again at the beginning of the year (at least in the capital), and all the swells, and even their college age kids, have them. But not the most senior officials, who...

ISTANBUL (AP) - Challenging a global aversion to guns aboard ships, France has put troops on tuna boats in the Indian Ocean, and Belgium is offering military units to its merchant vessels off the Horn of Africa. Now, U.S. lawmakers are weighing similar action to fight piracy. Opponents fear such moves will escalate the violence and raise a minefield of legal issues. In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment that would require the Department of Defense to put armed teams on U.S.-flagged ships passing through high-risk waters, specifically around the Horn of Africa where Somali pirates have...

The British Embassy in Tel Aviv confirmed Monday that the United Kingdom has revoked a number of arms export licenses to Israel following the Gaza war, but insisted that the move did not constitute a partial embargo. "There is no partial U.K. arms embargo on Israel," the embassy said in a statement to Haaretz. "U.K. policy remains to assess all export licenses to Israel against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria

WINNIPEG — Manitoba exported a cache of guns worth $1.2 million to Saudi Arabia last year, but the federal government won't say who sold them, who bought them, or what they were used for. According to international-trade data available on the Industry Canada website, Manitoba exported a total of $3.1 million in "arms and ammunition" to foreign countries last year. That could include anything from flame-throwers to shotgun cartridges to rocket-launchers, and it's double what the province exported in 2004. Except for Manitoba's guns, Canada sold virtually no other weapons or ammunition to Saudi Arabia last year. Ontario was the...

May 16, 2009 SNIPPET: "There have been a number of reports of foreign fighters, with possible links to al-Qaeda, fighting alongside hardline Islamists of al-Shabaab and Hisbul-Islam, said Mr Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. "We're extremely worried about the reports." "There seem to be fairly serious and creditable reports that al Shabaab does have, amongst its fighters, a number of individuals of South Asian and Chechen origin," said Mr Carson. "This is a very disturbing situation and reflects the seriousness of the problem in Somalia." Mr Carson also expressed concern about flights from Eritrea were...

The Italian police have arrested two men suspected of planning an attack on the Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris. They are also suspected of planning other attacks in France and Great Britain. The two are thought to play a leading role in the al-Qaeda network.

"May I change the subject," said a prominent Washington theologian at a recent dinner. The conversation had been high-minded -- religion, philosophy, the nature of evil. "I'd like to talk about Michelle Obama's arms," he said. snipMichelle Obama's arms, we determined, were transformational. Her arms are representative of a new kind of woman: young, strong, vigorous, intelligent, accomplished, sexual, powerful, embracing and, most of all, loving. This is a woman who has the courage to say "I am mom in chief" and make her children and her family -- unapologetically -- her No. 1 priority. She is able to do...

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday formally nominated Ellen Tauscher, a seven-term member of Congress who is considered an expert on defense, as his top arms control official. Tauscher, who represents a California district, has a record of introducing arms control and counter proliferation legislation and has campaigned for greater oversight of the US Missile Defense Agency. She said in a statement in March, after details of her impending appointment emerged, that she

An Iranian vessel en route to Sudan in order to deliver weapons to Hamas in the Gaza Strip was attacked by an Israeli or American ship and destroyed, according to a report Sunday in the Egyptian weekly Al-Usbua.

Britain said it will review all weapons exports to Israel following the country's recent war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The move comes amid pressure from British lawmakers who had demanded that the government ensure UK weapon parts were not used against Palestinians. Foreign Secretary David Miliband told Parliament Tuesday that all export licenses would be reviewed "in light of recent events in Gaza." Israel's three-week offensive ended in mid-January. He said all future applications to export arms to Israel will also be assessed with the Gaza conflict in mind. Miliband said Britain supplies less than 1 percent of...

NRA members, keep an eye out for your copy of American Rifleman, if it hasn't already arrived. According to the latest edition of the magazine, Bob Reynolds, owner of Templar Consulting LLC, will make a special presentation at the NRA Foundation Banquet on May 14. It's a modified AR-15 (civilian version of the milspec M16 rifle), specially customized in honor of Gov. Sarah Palin. Chambered for .50 Beowulf instead of the standard 5.56mm cartridge, this special AR features several custom engravings. The Big Dipper is on the magazine well, an outline of the state of Alaska is on the stock,...

MEXICO CITY – An escalating arms race among Mexico's drug cartels casts doubt on whether Mexico or the U.S. can stop the flow of weaponry, despite renewed vows last week from presidents of both countries. Stockpiles captured by Mexican soldiers show that warring traffickers are now obtaining military-grade weaponry such as grenades, launchers, machine guns, mortars and anti-tank rockets.

Having backed off--for now--from the politically difficult push for a ban of so-called "assault weapons," President Obama hopes to assuage Mexican President Felipe Calderón's disappointment with a promise to push the Senate to ratify the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and other Related Materials, a treaty signed in 1997, but never ratified in the U.S. President Obama announced in a visit here today that he will push the U.S. Senate to ratify an inter-American arms trafficking treaty designed to curb the flow of guns and ammunition to drug cartels and other armed...

There are four Somali pirates holding a U.S. merchant captain hostage. I have followed the story a bit, but I have not heard any coverage of what the pirates are armed with. I would like to know what they used to hijack the ship. I suggest that people make predictions about what they are armed with. I will make mine first. They were and are armed with edged weapons, knives, perhaps fairly large ones such as machetes or pangas. This is based on the lack of coverage of the weapons used, perhaps because the media knows that a great many...

by Jack Lee How does a concealed weapons permit dovetail with the Constitutional [right] to, keep and bear arms? One might think the CCW is a mere bureaucratic extension of that right, something that allows the issuing county to make a few dollars charging citizens a permit fee. However, in actual practice the CCW permit has been issued rather arbitrarily. The Kern County Sheriff issued over 3000 permits in a 3 year period, only 12 had been handed out in San Francisco and only 3 in Los Angeles County. In a number of California counties your odds of getting a...

More Than $1 billion In Private-Sector Weapons Exports Approved For Mexico Since 2004 Mainstream media and Beltway pundits and politicians in recent months have unleashed a wave of panic in the nation linking the escalading violence in Mexico, and its projected spread into the U.S., to illegal weapons smuggling. The smokescreen being spread by these official mouthpieces of manufactured consensus is that a host of criminal operators are engaging in straw (or fraudulent) gun purchases, making clandestine purchases at U.S. gun shows or otherwise assembling small caches of weapons here in the states in order to smuggle them south of...

WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to begin negotiations on Wednesday to draft a new arms control treaty that could slash the American and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals by about a third and possibly lead to even deeper reductions, according to administration officials.

SHE may have the most talked-about forearms in US political history, but Michelle Obama revealed yesterday that she has a weakness for hamburgers and chips and is more concerned about her hips. After a national discussion about her taste for sleeveless dresses - and the consequent exposure of her toned biceps – the wife of President Barack Obama appears to be having a little more trouble keeping other parts of her anatomy in trim.

So you're an arms dealer, you want to win a contract in India, and you rather liked the look of those dancing scenes in Slumdog Millionaire. What do you do next? Well, if you're the Israeli firm Rafael, the obvious (but no less excruciating) answer is to make a Bollywood movie promoting your military hardware. Doesn't sound like it has any of the ingredients for one of those classically romantic Indian films does it? Trust me. You truly have no idea how bad, or hilarious, this could be until you see it. The first thing watchers will notice is that...

Russia is working on anti-satellite weapons to match technologies developed by other nations and will speed up modernization of its nuclear forces, a deputy defense minister was quoted as saying Thursday.

MOSCOW (AP) — Modernization of Russia's strategic nuclear forces is a top priority for the government, a senior Cabinet official said Wednesday. Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said that upgrading ground, sea and air components of the nation's strategic forces is costly but necessary. "It's expensive, it's very expensive, but there is no other way," Ivanov told lawmakers in the lower house of parliament. "We will develop and modernize our strategic deterrent forces." The Kremlin has welcomed Washington's stated intention to intensify arms control talks to negotiate a successor to the pivotal 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I,...

Gaza-based Hamas strongman Mahmoud Zahar declared Tuesday that his Islamist militant group reserves the right to bring arms into Gaza. "It's our right to bring in everything - money and arms. We will not give anyone any commitment on this subject," Zahar told Reuters in an interview in the Egyptian town of Ismailia. O Advertisement ne the goals of Israel's recent offensive against Hamas in Gaza was to stem the flow of weaponry into the coastal strip.

A West Allis municipal judge today ruled in favor of a local man arrested for disorderly conduct after a neighbor complained that he was carrying a gun while planting a tree. Judge Paul Murphy found Brad Krause not guilty of disorderly conduct in a case that drew to a hearing numerous gun rights advocates to witness what may be the first open carry gun case heard in a Wisconsin courtroom. For Krause, however, the significance of the case extended beyond gun rights: It was an infringement on civil liberties, he said after today's decision. "The reason people are upset about...

The U.S. Navy is conducting covert operations aimed at intercepting Iranian ships carrying weapons to rearm Hamas in the Gaza Strip, informed defense officials told WND. The setup, which has already halted a vessel carrying Iranian munitions in recent days, acts on intelligence information provided by Israel, Egypt and Cyprus, the defense officials said. The U.S. Navy refused to comment, but informed sources said the U.S. last week intercepted an Iranian-owned vessel found to be carrying weapons, including rockets, mortar and artillery shells. It is suspected the ship was attempting to reach the Egyptian Sinai area. If successful, the delivery...

Gun manufacturing in the Pakistan boondocks. In the clip below you'll see an amazing 'industry' in Pakistan turning out 1000 weapons a day and have done so for seventy years. That is over 25 million firearms...and we think they can be subdued...maybe after killing them all. Mr. Obama has a tall job in front of him, espescially if he believes that he can overcome Islam and their arms to achieve their end... Have a look...

U.S. defense officials say a Navy vessel that is part of the new piracy task force intercepted and searched an Iranian-owned ship that officials feared was carrying arms to Hamas. It's unclear whether those suspicions were founded. Two defense officials say the Cypriot-flagged commercial vessel was tracked by a U.S. Navy ship in the Red Sea over the weekend. One official says it was boarded with the consent of the vessel's crew on Monday and Tuesday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. The search turned up ammunition that included artillery...

The most significant deficiency of the Iraqi Security Forces is its missing artillery. Artillery is called the "King of the Battlefield" because it is the single largest casualty maker in conventional war. Currently, The Iraqi Army's largest indirect fires is its company's 60mm mortar sections. While the current emphasis has been on fielding more infantry to the detriment of supporting elements, the Iraqi Army plans to fill out the artillery component from 2009 through 2011. Until that is complete, US forces will have to remain to provide support and training to Iraqi forces.

The Russian military will commission 70 strategic nuclear missiles over the next three years, a senior government official said Monday, according to Russian news agencies. The statement by Vladislav Putilin, a deputy head of the Cabinet's military-industrial commission in charge of weapons industries, indicates the government's intention to significantly increase the tempo of rearming Russia's Strategic Missile Forces. Putilin, who spoke after a government session chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that discussed the weapons purchases, said the Cabinet has decided to spend about 4 trillion rubles, or $141 billion, on new weapons over the next three years, Interfax and...

Happy Holidays: Now dispose of all of your ammunition! Every last round! From now on, you will be able to buy only overpriced ammunition that will be registered to you in a government database. Not yet--at least for now. A small company, Ammunition Accountability--which wants to help anti-gunners price and regulate the Second Amendment out of existence, profit at the expense of our rights, or both--has found radical anti-gun legislators in 18 states willing to introduce bills pushing such nonsense. But few anti-gun proposals are so overtly aimed at destroying the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. As we began...

What makes a terrorist choose one target over another when planning to machine gun and grenade attack innocent people in a crowded public place? Is the target selection based on some perceived geopolitical transgressions against the terrorists’ demented cause? The terrorist would like the world to think so, but if that was the case, why didn’t the latest attack happen in a place like Israel? Why Mumbai, India? Here is a letter I received from someone who knows the real reason why terrorists would strike Mumbai, India over Tel Aviv, Israel or even Houston, Texas. You won’t see this talked...

A tense standoff is underway in northeastern Somalia between pirates, Somali authorities, and Iran over a suspicious merchant vessel and its mysterious cargo. Hijacked late last month in the Gulf of Aden, the MV Iran Deyanat remains moored offshore in Somali waters and inaccessible for inspection. Its declared cargo consists of minerals and industrial products, however, Somali and regional officials directly involved in the negotiations over the ship and who spoke to The Long War Journal are convinced that it was heading to Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia's Islamist insurgents.

Albania's government said on Friday it was looking into the sudden death of an arms industry figure who was helping prosecutors investigate a weapons sale to the United States and an explosion that killed 26 people. Television pictures showed businessman Kosta Trebicka, his head covered in blood, sprawled on his back on a dirt road in a remote area of eastern Albania, where he had been hunting. His off-road car was nearby, and appeared to be damaged.

Does anyone know how to contact arms dealers and munition supply companies?

MOSCOW: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may spend up to a billion dollars on Russian weapons in a trip to Moscow next week, said a Russian military-industrial source cited by news agency Interfax on Saturday. Chavez's shopping list could include three "Varshavianka" class electric-diesel submarines and 20 Tor-M1 ground-to-air missile systems worth around a billion dollars (630 million euros), the source added. "During the visit several contracts are likely to be signed for the delivery of arms and military technology to Caracas," the source told Interfax. "For a number of military contracts, all the details have already been settled, they are...

Despite renewed friction between Russia and the United States, the specter of open conflict has faded since the days of the Cold War. However, equipment designed by the two nations remains on opposite sides of 21st-century battlefields. This isn't surprising: America is the top vendor of major conventional weapons, and Russia ranks number two. Both countries share a legacy of making military equipment to counter the other's capabilities and a long history of parlaying arms sales into geopolitical influence. These deals, sanctioned by both national governments, are extensions of foreign policy. A resurgent Russia wants cash and international influence, while...

Imphal, May 4 (IANS) Authorities in Manipur, one of northeast India’s worst insurgency-hit states, have decided to arm villagers with weapons to enable them protect themselves from militants and control rebel activities, officials said Sunday. “The state cabinet has decided to train up to 500 villagers in the districts of Thoubal and Imphal West and provide them weapons after local residents rose in revolt against excesses committed by armed militants who have been killing civilians and extorting cash,” said Manipur Irrigation and Flood Control Minister N. Biren. A militant group March 24 killed three people - two teenaged girls and...

Youths 18 through 20 may now legally possess handguns under a state Supreme Court ruling issued this morning. The five-member court unanimously said the state law banning those under 21 from possessing handguns violated the state constitution. The justices upheld a lower court ruling that threw out a York County indictment on that charge against Berry Scott Bolin. The ruling mirrors a new state law that lowers the minimum age for S.C. residents to own a handgun to 18. Bolin was 19 when he was charged in connection with the February 2006 shooting death of Bobby Royce Hovis III, 19....

Short Arms And Legs Linked To Risk Of Dementia, Study Shows ScienceDaily (May 6, 2008) — People with shorter arms and legs may be at a higher risk for developing dementia later in life compared to people with longer arms and legs, according to a study published in the May 6, 2008, bonus issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers say the association between short limbs and dementia risk may be due to poor nutrition in early life, which can affect limb growth. Several studies have shown that early life environment plays an important...

The Manipur government has decided to provide arms and ammunition to the people of the state to defend themselves from militants. Official sources said in Imphal on Saturday that the state cabinet, presided over by Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, discussed the issue on Friday night at a meeting, which lasted for over three hours. In the first phase, the people of Heirok and Chajing would be provided security by opening special posts, to be commanded by Special Police Officers. The people of Heirok in Thoubal district had been demanding arms, following the killing of three people by militants...

Zimbabwe arms ship heads home By Christopher Munnion in Johannesburg Last Updated: 2:38am BST 25/04/2008 A Chinese ship laden with weapons for Zimbabwe is heading home after being refused permission to dock in four African nations. Beijing said that the An Yue Jiang had been unable to fulfil its contract to deliver 77 tons of arms, including bullets, mortar bombs, grenades and assault rifles. Dock workers in South Africa refused to unload the ship, fearing that the weapons would be used by the Mugabe regime against opponents. The ship then spent a week stranded off the coast as Mozambique, Namibia...

No weapon is more important to tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan than the carbine rifle. And for well over a decade, the military has relied on one company, Colt Defense of Hartford, Conn., to make the M4s they trust with their lives. Now, as Congress considers spending millions more on the guns, this exclusive arrangement is being criticized as a bad deal for American forces as well as taxpayers, according to interviews and research conducted by The Associated Press. "What we have is a fat contractor in Colt who's gotten very rich off our wars...

Customs probe reveals sanctions-busting sales of arms, missile technology and nuclear components Investigators have identified a number of British arms dealers trading with Tehran, triggering alarm among government officials who fear Iran's nuclear programme may be receiving significant support from UK sources. The probe by customs officers suggests that at least seven Britons have been defying sanctions by supplying the Iranian air force, its elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, and even the country's controversial nuclear ambitions. Officials say they are perturbed by the number of British dealers who appear to be trading with Tehran, despite a third round of restrictions being...

Mugabe regime ordered 77 tonnes of Chinese arms three days AFTER disputed electionsBy IAN EVANS and WILLIAM LOWTHER - More by this author » Last updated at 21:33pm on 18th April 2008  A huge cargo of Chinese guns and ammunition sits marooned aboard a ship off South Africa. It would have been used to arm the tyrant Robert Mugabe's thugs in Zimbabwe. But dockers in South African port of Durban won't unload the 77 tons of mortars, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. Scroll down for more...Danger cargo: The ship is believed to be carrying 77 tonnes of...