Free Republic

-Libyan-flagged vessel used by a Malta-based humanitarian organisation implicated in a covert US arms smuggling operation to Syrian freedom fighter- A Libyan-flagged vessel which last year was used by a Malta-based humanitarian organisation in supplying a lifeline to rebels in Misurata, has been implicated in a covert US arms smuggling operation to Syrian freedom fighters, which may also be linked to murdered US ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi last month. The ship 'Al Entisar' which was chartered last year by I-Go Aid Libya, then run by businessman Mario Debono, has been reported to be linked to last September's attack on...

Last week, Russia delivered 15 additional batteries of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to China, making good on an about 2 billion dollar deal signed in the mid-2000s. Yet despite the publicity surrounding the sale, the Russian-Chinese arms transfer relationship is in trouble. Recent years have seen a precipitous fall in Chinese purchases of Russian military equipment and technologies. Whereas until a few years ago Beijing was buying large quantities of Moscow’s surplus Soviet-era military products, during the past few years the Chinese have declined to purchase any major weapons systems from Russia. China has already acquired about a dozen S-300 batteries...

America may be doubling its security aid to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen to fight al-Qaida, but most of the country's weaponry is coming from Russia, China and former Soviet states in Eastern Europe, with Saudi Arabia providing the funds. According to the Inter Press Service, Yemen's armed forces are undergoing a major military modernization program worth an estimated $4 billion. That's a huge amount for a country whose economy is collapsing, running out of water as well as oil. Production has fallen from 450,000 barrels a day six years ago to barely 1809,000 a day now. Within...

Mysteries still surround Israel’s air strike against Syria. Where was the attack, what was struck and how did Israel’s non-stealthy warplanes fly undetected through the Russian-made air defense radars in Syria? There also are clues that while the U.S. and Israel are struggling in the broader information war with Islamic fundamentalists, Tel Aviv’s air attack against a “construction site” in northern Syria may mean the two countries are beginning to win some cyberwar battles. U.S. officials say that close examination of the few details of the mission offers a glimpse of what’s new in the world of sophisticated electronic sleight-of-hand....

Venezuela is planning a "buying spree" for military equipment that goes beyond the country's legitimate needs, the State Department said Friday. In recent days, the United States has sought to block proposed sales of military planes and other equipment to Venezuela by Spain and Brazil. The transactions are part of what "we would consider an outsized military buildup in Venezuela," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

TEHRAN -(Dow Jones)- Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez held talks Sunday on OPEC policy and energy cooperation with his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Khatami in Iran's capital. Chavez said the aim of the talks was to "defend" crude oil prices, to discuss the two countries' relations within the framework of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and to promote relations in Iran's petrochemicals sector. Khatami told reporters the talks would concentrate on OPEC issues. The producer group meets in Cairo on Dec. 10 to decide output policy ahead. Both Iran and Venezuela are considered to OPEC hawks, potentially advocating a reduction in...

PRAGUE - The suspected arms smugglers were busted around daybreak. In an early morning raid, Czech police in Prague arrested two alleged weapons traffickers, a 28-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman, and confiscated a catalog offering Russian-made guns, tanks, missile carriers, warplanes, and naval vessels to prospective Middle Eastern clients. A few hours later, German police in the Black Forest hamlet of Pforzheim apprehended the pair's alleged boss, a Canadian citizen of Russian origin who used the alias Arthur Anderson. The group, police say, had been operating out of the Czech Republic for three years, organizing the sale of Russian-...