Free Republic

Syria remains the top destination for Iranian arms shipments in violation of a U.N. Security Council ban on weapons exports by the Islamic Republic, according to a confidential report on Iran sanctions-busting seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Iran, like Russia, is one of Syria's few allies as it presses ahead with a 14-month old assault on opposition forces determined to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. News of the panel's report came as Tehran and the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency try narrow their differences on how to tackle concerns over Iran's atomic program, and as Iran prepares for talks with...

Syria remains the top destination for Iranian arms shipments in violation of a U.N. Security Council ban on weapons exports by the Islamic Republic, according to a confidential report on Iran sanctions-busting seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Iran, like Russia, is one of Syria's few allies as it presses ahead with a 14-month old assault on opposition forces determined to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. News of the panel's report came as Tehran and the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency try narrow their differences on how to tackle concerns over Iran's atomic program, and as Iran prepares for talks with...

Ohio’s police departments are stockpiling military equipment and weapons, including mini-tanks, through a Defense Department program that gives communities free access to surplus gear.   Last year, Ohio police got $12 million in weapons and gear through the Pentagon program, which gave out $500 million worth of free military goods to law enforcement agencies around the country, according to the Dayton Daily News.

SINGAPORE - Singapore, better known for its clean-cut image and electronics exports, is seeking a place in the global arms industry by exploiting technological expertise honed on its own amply funded military. From armoured personnel carriers used by British forces in Afghanistan to ammunition and firearms, the city-state is trying to enlarge the overseas market for its homegrown weapons and defence systems. Its arms exports were in the limelight recently when India's defence ministry banned six weapons manufacturers for alleged involvement in a 2009 bribery case -- one of them a relatively little-known company from Singapore. ST Kinetics, part of...

“It has come to our attention that Arms Trade Treaty proponents are attempting to change the rules mid-stream, prior to the upcoming Treaty negotiations in early July,” researchers Paul Gallant, Alan Chwick, and Joanne D. Eisen wrote in a breaking story published yesterday in AmmoLand Gun News. “Ted R. Bromund, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, alerted the public to the very real possibility that ATT proponents are changing the meaning of the term ‘consensus’ and to the political ramifications for the US if ATT proponents prevail,” they warn. “Until now, ‘consensus’ has been understood by the US and...

When Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), spoke at CPAC on February 10th, he predicted that if Barack Obama wins a second term it will usher in an all-out attack on the Second Amendment. In so many words, he said the same people who brought us Fast and Furious, “a criminal enterprise” for which there has yet to be prosecutions, will use four more years to gut constitutional protections on the right to keep and bear arms. And anyone who wonders what this assault on the Second Amendment might look like need look no further...

Calling for an "UP IN ARMS ACROSS AMERICA DAY" Peaceful PROTEST, ON Sunday, May 20, 2012 (also World Communication Day!) when and where all "fed-up with Obama and his Administration" Americans, who are against and "up in arms" over his Affordable Care Act, his Executive signings, his dismantling of the Constitution and his taking away our God given and Constitutional freedoms and rights, link arms across America (much like the Hands Across America event and publicity campaign during Ronald Reagan's Administration) and finally once and for all be seen and heard as the "majority" of the American "will and demand...

The execution of citizens of the town of Bochnia by the Germans during the occupation of Poland, 18 December 1939. Fifty-six people were executed that day in an exercise of "government monopoly of violence." Three Death Penalties for Prohibited Arms Possession. A special German court in Zamość [near Krakow] sentenced to death 19 year-old Franciszek Pokrywka of Powieki, 27 year-old Iwan Zilnyk and 35 year-old Paweł Huzar, both of Ułazów, for prohibited possession of firearms as well as for violating the duty to report possession of firearms. Pokrywka had an automatic pistol with six cartridges and, despite the universally-known order...

A reliable Pentagon source confirmed that the U.S. is selling a huge $60 billion arms package to Serbia.The source spoke on condition of anonymity because minor details are still being hammered out. Afterwards there will be an official announcement made by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.The Pentagon source said the huge $60 billion arms package sale to Serbia is being made to counter the increasing dangerous militant Islamist threat in the region.The source noted Turkey's shift away from the secularism of Attaturk to fundamentalist Islam reflected by the ascension to power of Erdogan's AKP Islamist party.That is reflected in Turkey's closer ties with the Iranian regime and increasing hostility towards Israel and the West. The...

The White House announced on Thursday a major arms sale deal to Saudi Arabia worth around 29.4 billion dollars. "The United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have signed a government-to-government agreement under the Foreign Military Sales program to provide advanced F-15SA combat aircraft to the Royal Saudi Air Force," White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Joshua Earnest said in a statement. The agreement includes production of 84 new aircraft and the modernization of 70 existing aircraft, as well as munitions, spare parts, training, maintenance and logistics, according to the statement. "This agreement reinforces the strong and enduring relationship...

The Second Amendment Foundation, SAF, and Alan Gura filed an amicus brief AGAINST the open carry of firearms. I believe they have been hiding their real agenda for some time now. I believe their agenda is to establish a permit or licensing scheme for the bearing of arms. If anyone has read their briefs, they do not seem to want open carry as an option. Here is a link to the brief which was filed 12-5-2011 https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4xDZlk5vthcODdkNmEzZWMtYTFkYi00ZWZmLTg3ZDYtZTY4OWQ0Yzk2NzZm

A federal lawsuit filed in Texas last year seeks to repeal the prohibition, as part of the Gun Control Act of 1968, on handgun purchases by 18 to 20-year-olds from licensed dealers. That lawsuit has hit a snag, with U.S. District Judge Samuel Cummings dismissing it yesterday. From the Statesman: In a 17-page order, U.S. District Judge Samuel Cummings dismissed a challenge to a 32-year-old [actually 42] federal law barring handgun sales by licensed gun dealers to people under the age of 21. Judge Cummings' rationale is especially . . . interesting: "The Court is of the opinion that the...

Post-Gaddafi chaos exposes arsenals of small arms and chemicals to raids by smugglers and militants. The collapse of strongman Muamar Gaddafi’s government and the ensuing chaos in Libya could prove to be boon to the militant groups in Africa and the Middle East by opening up arsenals of weaponry ranging from small arms to chemicals, experts are warning. Rebels have seized much of the country including most of the capital Tripoli, but as of late Thursday they were still battling Gaddafi loyalists and struggling to establish law and order in a country wracked by six months of civil war. Unorganized...

PESHAWAR 25 August 2011, National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) will receive applications till August 29 to revalidate arms licenses issued by the interior ministry. Talking to a Media Person the spokesperson for NADRA said that the authority had established 158 centers across the country where a separate counter in each designated centre has been established to receive the applications regarding the renewal of arms licenses. He said that 13 NADRA Registration Centers (NRC) in Regional Headquarters Multan, 30 NRCs in Provincial Headquarters Quetta, 14 NRCs in PHQ Lahore, 10 NRCs in Regional Headquarters Sargodha, 32 NRCs in PHQ Peshawar,...

Under licence, for self defence MADURAI: Revenue authorities or police officials cannot refuse to issue arms licence by citing the likelihood of law and order problem as all citizens of the country are entitled to possess weapons, under licence, for self-defence unless their antecedents or propensities do not entitle them for the privilege, the Madras High Court has ruled. Justice D. Hariparanthaman passed the ruling while allowing a writ petition filed by an agriculturist who was denied licence by the Commissioner of Revenue Administration as well as the Theni District Revenue Officer in 2005 and 2004 respectively to possess a...

Russians should be given the right to bear arms, albeit with strict regulations, believes acting upper house speaker, Aleksandr Torshin. I believe that law-abiding citizens should be returned the lost right to bear small arms,” he told journalists, as cited by RIA Novosti. According to the senator, carrying a gun is “a huge responsibility”, but “citizens should have an opportunity to defend themselves, their families' lives and their property”. Torshin believes that if people were allowed to carry weapons, they would have a fair fight with the “lamebrains and villains” in the event of an attack. If journalist Oleg Kashin...

A cream which promises to give women 'Obama Arms' by shaving up to two centimetres of fat off dreaded bingo wings is set to go on sale in UK this week. Arm Sculpt makers Rodial claim applying the £60 cream to the affected spot twice a day destroys fatty cells and tightens skin giving the user toned arms like Michelle Obama. In trials it showed that 22 per cent of the fat can be dispersed if the cream is applied properly and that 56 days use will see an incredible 2cms disappear.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top Pentagon contractors have been bleeding secrets for years as a result of penetrations of their computer networks, current and former national security officials say. The Defense Department, which runs its own worldwide eavesdropping, spying and code-cracking systems, says more than 100 foreign intelligence organizations have been trying to break into U.S. networks. Some of the perpetrators "already have the capacity to disrupt" U.S. information infrastructure, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, who is leading remedial efforts, wrote last fall in the journal Foreign Affairs. Joel Brenner, the National Counterintelligence executive from 2006 to 2009, said most if...

When you run down the list of issues the Oath Keepers are worried about, it reads a lot like a bill of particulars from the American Civil Liberties Union. The Oath Keepers don't like warrantless searches. They're upset that the executive branch has claimed the power to classify American citizens as enemy combatants, detain them indefinitely, and try them before military tribunals. They worry that a large-scale terrorist attack similar to 9/11 could lead to the mass detention of Arabs or Muslims, just as Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. They worry about crackdowns on political speech, protest,...

Hillary Clinton has paved the way for the United States to arm the Libyan rebels by declaring that the recent UN security council resolution relaxed an arms embargo on the country. As Libya's opposition leaders called for the international community to arm them, the secretary of state indicated that the US was considering whether to meet their demands when she talked of a "work in progress". The US indicated on Monday night that it had not ruled out arming the rebels, though it was assumed this would take some time because of a UN arms embargo which applies to all...

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan is beefing up its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles by embracing China as its new strategic arms partner and backing away from the U.S., analysts have told Fox News. Pakistan earlier this month test-fired a nuclear-capable missile from an undisclosed location – the second in a month of try-outs for its short-range surface-to-surface Hataf 2 class rocket, co-developed with the Chinese. It was the latest in a series of arms collaborations between the two nations, which view their strategic partnership as a counterweight to a boldly confident India, which has American support. Until the mid-1960s, the United States...

Palestinian sources say arms depot belongs to Hamas' military wing; attack comes after two rockets and several mortars were fired into southern Israel earlier Thursday; IDF to deploy Iron Dome next week, Channel 10 says. The Israel Air Force bombed an arms depot in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, which according to Palestinian sources, belonged to the military wing of Hamas. The attack was carried out around 8:30 P.M. local time, after two rockets and several mortars were fired from Gaza at southern Israel earlier Thursday. According to Palestinian reports, IDF forces also attacked a military facility which was...

Moscow – The graying bear is getting a make-over. Russia's military is launching its biggest rearmament effort since Soviet times, including a $650 billion program to procure 1,000 new helicopters, 600 combat planes, 100 warships, and 8 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. Analysts say Russia, while already the world's fifth-largest military spender, needs strong conventional forces to reduce its overreliance on its aging Soviet-era nuclear missile deterrent. Valentin Rudenko, director of the independent Interfax-Military News Agency, says it could create "a whole new ballgame." "For about two decades we've had no real modernization, at least not like what's being proposed now,"...

A recent post by former BBC North American editor Justin Webb expresses puzzlement at the pattern of gun ownership in the U.S., reporting that the zip code he used to live in, an area safe enough so that people routinely left their doors unlocked, had a surge of gun purchases after the Supreme Court found unconstitutional the D.C. ban on handgun ownership. He thinks it is obvious that his one-time neighbors have no need for guns to protect themselves, and attributes the pattern to a peculiarly American belief in a link between private ownership of firearms and political freedom. I...

Operating from a small US Special Forces base on a snow-speckled field here is a newly minted US ally who represents either a brighter future or everything that is wrong with Afghanistan’s troubled past. The former Afghan insurgent is despised by the head of the provincial council, who calls him “a thief, a kidnapper and out of control.” He is disparaged by police, who view him as a dangerous fighter and dissolute hash smoker. But to the US military, Noor ul Haq’s past means less than his willingness to fight the Taliban. In these dangerous villages of northern Afghanistan’s Baghlan...

This is a pure opinion piece – a rant. Most of the times I write about what I think the Iraqi Security Forces are doing or report on what they are actually doing. Some readers think that I agree with what is being done to develop those forces. Not true. I think that they are making some very dangerous errors. Politics – the Ruling Politicians are in Fantasyland When I outlined my top 5 procurement priorities if I were the Iraqi Minister of Defense in an e-mail, one of my regulars replied: “Actually DJ your top priority should be the...

Earlier this year, as part of the tools of war series, At War published photographs of Taliban small arms from Helmand province, along with data on the types of firearms in insurgent use. The photographs included images of bolt-action rifles, including one, a Lee-Enfield rifle, that dated to 1915. In spite of their advanced age, Lee-Enfield rifles, along with Soviet Mosin-Nagant bolt-action arms, have seen continued service in Afghanistan for two reasons: they offer greater range and accuracy than the assault rifles in more common circulation, and their ammunition remains available on Afghan black markets. Many readers wrote with questions...

The company that owns Bushmaster Firearms in Windham is shutting the facility down, putting more than 70 people out of work. Freedom Group, Inc. which owns the Bushmaster brand, says it's closing the facility on Roosevelt Trail, effective March 31, 2011

A notorious arms dealer who has been the subject of an extended diplomatic tug of war between the United States and Russia has been extradited from Thailand aboard a US government jet. Viktor Bout is a former Soviet air force pilot and alleged KGB agent, who is accused of running arms into just about every major armed conflict and insurrection - from Sierra Leone to Afghanistan - for the past 20 years. The burly Russian's luck ran out when he was caught in a sting operation by US agents posing as guerillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC)....

The United States has announced its largest arms sale ever, hundreds of advanced warplanes and helicopters for Mideast ally Saudi Arabia in a deal worth up to $US60 billion ($A62.14 billion) dollars. The plan allows for the sale to Riyadh of 84 F-15 fighter jets, 70 Apache attack helicopters, 72 tactical Black Hawk helicopters and several Little Birds, lightweight helicopters often used in special operations, assistant secretary for political-military affairs Andrew Shapiro said. The sale, which also includes the upgrade of 70 used F-15s, is "not to exceed 60 billion" dollars, Shapiro told reporters. The delivery of the weapons would...

In his new book, The Gun: The AK-47 and the Evolution of War, out Oct. 12, New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers traces the origins of modern assault rifles—particularly Avtomat Kalashnikov 47, or the AK-47—and analyzes how they've changed warfare. Popular Mechanics spoke to the author about how and why the AK-47 was developed and why it has had even more of an impact than nuclear weapons.

Despite the absence of real foreign threats, all the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States are rapidly increasing their military spending, not only diverting funds from other uses but creating a series of regional arms races that represent “an extremely dangerous trend” for the region, according to a Russian commentator. Yuri Sigov, Washington bureau chief for “Delovoy lyudi,”, says that “the latest events in Kyrgyzstan, the signing of a [basing] agreement between Moscow and Yerevan, the purchase by Azerbaijan of anti-aircraft complexes and the strengthening of the Russian military presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia” are only the...

MOUNT VERNON — The right to bear arms, to many people, is one of the most important rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. Local attorney Harlow Walker spoke of the history and meaning of the Second Amendment of the Constitution on Wednesday, the final night of the lecture series. “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” the Second Amendment states. Walker began with a brief overview of English history concerned with the evolution of the idea of...

Barack Obama is to go ahead with plans to sell Saudi Arabia advanced aircraft and other weapons worth up to $60bn (£39bn), the biggest arms deal in US history, in a strategy of shoring up Gulf Arab allies to face any military threat from Iran. According to the Wall Street Journal, the administration is also in talks with the Saudis about possible naval and missile-defence upgrades that could be worth tens of billions of dollars more over five to 10 years. Plans to go ahead with the package, which has been under secret negotiation since 2007, have been known for...

This Iraqi Security Force (ISF) update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during August 2010. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle is updated as of 31 August 2010. The conversion of Iraqi heavy brigades to a modified US Army modular structure was addressed in a separate article. Highlights in this update include: * Lasta95s, Mi17s, and M1A1s delivered. 80 M1117s contracted for. * Peshmerga start Iraqi Army training. * New Operations Center in Kirkuk. 9th Division moving to Besmaya? Maintenance training course on M1A1s identified. Initial brigade receiving training on BTR4s identified. 37/9 Brigade upgrading to tanks....

GUANGZHOU, CHINA - Police in the capital of South China's Guangdong province will clamp down on the sale of cutting tools as a security measure ahead of the Asian Games, which are scheduled to kick off on Nov 12. Starting Nov 1, people in Guangzhou will only be able to buy kitchen knives and other large-sized cutting tools at designated shops, according to a notice issued on Thursday. Anyone looking to buy a knife must carry proof of identification, which will be registered in police records on the spot, the notice said. The crackdown will last two months, the notice...

Israel is trying to prevent an arms deal between Russia and Syria, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to stop the arms sale involving advanced anti-shipping missiles. The deal involves the sale of advanced P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles to the Syrian military. Israel considers this weaponry capable of posing significant danger to its navy vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.

BEIJING: A Chinese General on Friday termed as "flagrant provocation" US plans to send a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the Yellow Sea and said the country would retaliate if "offended". "A country needs respect, so does a military. We will retaliate if we are offended," Major General Luo Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Academy of Military Sciences, wrote in an editorial in the PLA Daily. The US is "pushing its security boundary to the doorstep of others — the Yellow Sea, South China Sea and so on," Luo said. China had in the recent weeks voice...

WHEN Deb Freele woke up in her tent, a grizzly bear was chewing on her arm. She screamed as she heard the bones break. Recovering in hospital yesterday, she explained how she had survived: “I screamed, he bit harder. I screamed harder, he continued to bite. I told myself, 'play dead'. I went totally limp. As soon as I went limp, I could feel his jaws get loose and then he let me go.” Mrs Freele, 58, was one of two survivors of a deadly bear attack in the middle of the night at a busy campsite just outside Yellowstone...

In 1978, Justice Lewis Powell wrote an opinion in the Bakke case asserting that the need for diversity could justify racial preferences in university admissions. No other justice joined this opinion, but because the other justices were split 4-4, Powell's opinion decided the case, and in time his argument has been embraced by a majority of the court. A regrettable result, in my view, but a consequential one. Last month, Justice Clarence Thomas delivered a similarly decisive opinion in McDonald v. Chicago, the case holding that the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms, recognized by the court in...

Happy 4th of July. This Iraqi Security Force (ISF) update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during June 2010. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle is updated as of 30 June 2010. Highlights in this update include: * New Peshmerga Brigade identified; 1st Peshmerga Brigade in Iraqi Army basic. * 1st Iraqi M1A1s shipping to Iraq; Used US Equipment Transferring to the Iraqi Army; Iraqi Army airborne training delayed and possibly cancelled; First field artillery officers graduate; 17th Division in live-fire exercise with US armor. * French helicopters for Iraqi Naval Support? Iraq negotiating for new F16...

Egypt's Defense Ministry has approved plans to expand the production of joint weapons and aerospace projects with Beijing. They said both countries were discussing a draft agreement in which they would also jointly market combat platforms and weapons to Arab and African militaries. "Over the next few months, we will witness an announcement of new Egyptian-Chinese combat production that stems from joint cooperation," said Hamdi Waheiba, chairman of Egypt's Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI). Waheiba said the cooperative effort would seek to meet the needs of the Egyptian Air Force as well as regional militaries. The two countries plan to...

TOKYO - North Korean weapons seized in Thailand last year were headed for Islamist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, the Israeli foreign minister said on Wednesday. More than 35 tons of arms including rockets and rocket propelled grenades were seized from a cargo plane after it made an emergency landing at a Bangkok airport in December. Thai authorities said the plane came from North Korea. In January, the Thai government sent a report to the U.N. Security Council stating the weapons were headed for Iran, which is allied to Syria. "With huge numbers of different weapons ... (it had the) intention...

The United States has summoned the senior Syrian diplomat in Washington to address "provocative behaviour" regarding the potential transfer of Scud missiles to Hizbollah that it said could be a threat to both Lebanon and Israel. "The United States condemns in the strongest terms the transfer of any arms, and especially ballistic missile systems such as the Scud, from Syria to Hizbollah," the statement, issued by State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid, said. "The transfer of these arms can only have a destabilising effect on the region, and would pose an immediate threat to both the security of Israel and the...

Today at 19:14 | Interfax-Ukraine The new Russian-American Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed in Prague on Thursday by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, lifts limitations in control matters discriminatory toward Russia, said former head of the Strategic Rocket Forces Col. Gen. Viktor Yesin. "Russia has been rid of the burdensome limitations on the structure of its strategic nuclear forces imposed on it by the START I treaty," Yesin said at a news conference at Interfax's main office in Moscow on Friday. A START I provision, under which Russia had no right to have more than 154 heavy carrier...

NEW DELHI: The prospect of a nuclear deal for Pakistan gives India less sleepless nights than the fact that the US, in an attempt to "incentivise" Pakistan, is piling on sophisticated military equipment that have little to do with counter-terrorism but more to do with targeting India. With the first lot of 18 F-16C/D Block 50/52 combat aircraft due to be delivered in the next few months, India is raising the diplomatic pitch against the transfer of such equipment to Pakistan. While defence minister A K Antony has articulated these concerns, this has been the subject of a lot of...

(IsraelNN.com) Britain is reconsidering its policy of selling weapons to the State of Israel, and it has yet to end legal proceedings for arresting Israeli leaders. The country has yet to close a legal loophole that enables the arrest of Israeli military and political leaders if they enter the country, an issue that has dogged the heels of diplomats since the end of Operation Cast Lead. Palestinian Authority Arab representatives are still able to charge Israeli leaders with involvement in possible war crimes in the Gaza war more than a year ago, despite vows by London officials that they would...

The Adjustable Rate Mortgage Time Bomb Proves To Be A Dud Vincent Fernando, CFA Mar. 29, 2010, 7:35 AM It was feared that adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) would slam U.S. homeowners in droves as low teaser interest rates adjusted-up. Many intelligent analysts and investors showed us how waves of ARM's would come due for scheduled adjustment, causing havoc to their owners. Well, it turns out that many ARM holders either modified their loans ahead of time or were simply already driven into foreclosure before it even happened. Great... we think. WSJ: "The peaks of the reset wave are melting very...

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington this week absorbing the full wrath of the Obama administration, the Pentagon and Israel's defense establishment were in the process of sealing a large arms deal. According to the deal, Israel will purchase three new Hercules C-130J airplanes. The deal for the three aircrafts, designed by Lockheed Martin, is worth roughly a quarter billion dollars. Each aircraft costs $70 million. The aircrafts were manufactured specifically for Israeli needs, and include a large number of systems produced by Israel's defense industry. The deal will be covered by American foreign assistance funds. The Pentagon...

Germany has become the world's third largest arms exporter, with many of its weapons, including this submarine, earmarked for Greece.