Wow, this story keeps getting bigger and more interesting.
A few days ago I translated portions of an Israeli news story about the Arctic Sea affair which, along with a Time Magazine report surmised that Israeli intelligence had intercepted or been involved in the interception of the Arctic Sea, while it was carrying Russian missiles destined for either Iran or Hezbollah. Several readers here whose opinions I trust dismissed these theories as improbable for various reasons. But it appears they are quite likely to be wrong and the original story is likely to be correct.
News reports over the weekend, citing military sources in Israel and Russia, said the Arctic Sea had been loaded with S-300 missiles at the Kaliningrad naval port without the Kremlin’s knowledge.
I repeat a question I asked in my earlier post: how could the Russian government NOT have known a cargo of its most precious military technology was being loaded in its own naval port? I’d surmise that elements of the Russian military and shady arms dealers must’ve been in cahoots to bring this kind of complex caper off:
Earlier this month, Mikhail Voitenko, a Russian journalist who specializes in maritime reporting, fled abroad after he said he received threats for his reporting that [the] ship was likely being used by corrupt officials to carry weapons. Mr. Voitenko broke the story of the ships initial “disappearance” from the Baltic Sea.
Adding flesh to the story is a BBC report that Israeli intelligence confirms its involvement in the Arctic Sea adventure:
Israel was linked to the interception of the missing cargo ship Arctic Sea last month, a senior figure close to Israeli intelligence has told the BBC. The source said Israel had told Moscow it knew the ship was secretly carrying a Russian air defence system for Iran…
The Israeli source told the BBC that the piracy story was a cover and that Israel told Moscow it was giving officials time to stop the shipment before making the matter public…
In my last report, I mentioned the coincidence that Israeli Pres. Shimon Peres made a hastily scheduled trip to Moscow the day after the ship was freed. That was when Peres made the rather astonishing statement that an Iranian bomb was like a “flying death camp.” When I first wrote about this I could only speculate about what he went to talk to the Russians. But now it becomes clearer as the S-300 is the single most feared weapons system that the Russians could provide the Iranians. Israel has made loud and clear in every way possible that they do not want Russia to sell it to Iran. The fact that country almost managed to secure the system surreptitiously would’ve provided Peres quite a bit to talk about. And if indeed the Russian leadership did not know what was happening in Kaliningrad, then it might’ve been eager to explain to the Israelis how this little caper got as far along as it did. Another little matter that would’ve interested the Russians is how the Mossad knew about this shipment while the Kremlin was asleep at the switch.
Further, Yediot Achronot broke the story of a “secret” trip by Bibi Netanyahu to Moscow on Monday. My good friend Sol Salbe just wrote me an e mail saying he thinks it would be likely that the S-300 would’ve been a major issue for discussion. He may be right. If Israel does attack Iran (which it clearly wants to do), it doesn’t want to lose half its pilots doing so. With this technology, Iran would not only harden its targets it would inflict serious damage on the IAF. I would contend that if Israel does not seriously contemplate attacking Iran then these missiles should not be as big a matter for Israel as they appear to be.
One of the more humorous aspects of this story is the Russian foreign minister’s imploring the world media to keep their powder dry and not jump to any conclusions:
“All will become transparent, and I hope that everyone will be convinced that the rumors you refer to are absolutely groundless,” Mr. Lavrov told reporters.
Given the Russian aspiration toward the ideal of full transparency and democracy, I’d say the chances of anyone trusting Lavrov’s promise are about slim to none.
And why would Russia want to use arctic to transfer weapons to Iran?
http://www.iranaffairs.com/iran_affairs/2009/08/russian-ship-was-sending-missles-to-iransays-james-bond.html
http://www.iranaffairs.com/iran_affairs/2009/09/was-russias-artic-sea-carrying-missiles-to-iran-nope.html
Maybe the conspirators who had access to the weapons also had access to the port Kaliningrad, but didn’t have access to weapons or a Russian port closer to Iran. Your question presumes that the Russian gov’t was sending these weapons to Iran & could send them fr. whatever port it wished. I’m not sure that’s the case. This sounds like some kind of conspiracy at a pretty high level of the military, but not necessarily officially sanctioned by the gov’t.
Well, this might interest you : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvl0lg5TTNU
Checkout other parts too. Claims Israel has infiltrated Russia’s military industrial complex.
Maybe aliens took over the ship and were about to use it to shoot lasers at the moon. Or maybe you fell for a story based entirely on anonymous “military sources.” Note how the story gets more embelished with “maybees” each time to overcome logical objections. At this stage, it is simply a fictional movie plot with no actual evidentiary support. Show some critical thinking skills, man.
while it was carrying Russian missiles destined for either Iran or Hezbollah.
Hizbollah???? S300 is a very sophisticated weapon system. It includes a command centre, radars and the actual firing station parts and that “ensemble” is very large in size. If “we” assume that the ship was full of missiles then Hizbollah and Iran already have the other needed parts + the training. Maybe people should begin to find out what S300 actually is.
Amusing example of the “arms to Iran” propaganda by Israel is that story of a Greece holding ship bound for Iran over missiles on board. The story tells about 80 tons of CK22 steal on board, which Haaretz says can be used in missiles. CK 22 steel is a simple standardized product (EU norm number for it is EN 10083, the U.S. equivalent is SAE 1020, 1023). Any decent steel mill produces these, including Iranian. That steel can be used in cars and motors but hardly in missiles. More in
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2009/02/another-scary-iran-story.html
Maybe we should see that there is also the possibility that Mossad hired the Baltic gangsters to create an other excuse to attack Iran and there was really nothing special in the ship. With this Arctic Sea saga Israel has managed in western media to create a traditional “Have you stopped beating your wife” style situation, where no answer by Russia is right or will be believed. Israel / USA used the same strategy with Iraq’s WMD’s and for a long time with Iran.
Given the Russian aspiration toward the ideal of full transparency and democracy, I’d say the chances of anyone trusting Lavrov’s promise are about slim to none.
Well if we take the Israeli aspiration toward the ideal of full transparency and democracy should we take seriously what Israelis say about Arctic Sea and Iran’s nukes (or peace in general)? Surely I do not take. Peres has been shouting that Iran has ready nukes in a year since the beginning of 90’s. Still after 10 years the Peres’ “in a year” is years ahead.
I can’t get excited about a story telling us that the S-300 is “the most sophisticated weapons system that Russia has in its inventory”. Of course it is, nobody wants yesterdays weapons.
And, while Russia is no longer the USSR, it’s not Pakistan, where the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, I refuse to believe that’s the case here. A top Russian weapons manufacturer isn’t going to accept $millions from Iran, both bypassing the Kremlins coffers and scuppering their foreign policy.
OK, I’ve been wrong before. But lets float credible theories – the claim that George Bush was a heroin addict, controlled by his dealer, is more believable than this one.
This is being reported in some of the world’s most credible media sources. I’ve linked to the Christian Science Monitor, Ynetnews, and the BBC which in turn quotes an Israeli source close to Israeli intelligence. I realize this doesn’t seal the case. But it makes it much more credible than you’re acknowledging.
This Arctic Sea story is reported in most of the world’s media (credible and less credible). All speculate with the same few speculations and deliberate leaks. Let us remember that BBC for example reported from the moving chemical weapon factories in Iraq when their “existence” came to the public domain. What is reported in the most credible media is necessary the absolute truth.
Let us assume that a group of Russian military not under governments control was really selling S300 missiles or other weapons to Iran using Arctic Sea and Mossad did know that. Then a Mossad agent goes fast to Tallinn Lasnamäe (town part where many of the Estonian Russians live) and hires some old criminals to hijack the ship. This raises some questions.
A) Why wasn’t the ship hijacked when it left empty of normal cargo from Kaliningrad. Why did they wait that the cargo hulls were loaded full of timber. Then a couple of untrained men surely have no possibility to find the secret “missile” rooms built and loaded in Kaliningrad.
B) Why did not Israel inform Finland about the illegal cargo. The ship is owned by a Finnish company and sails under EU (Malta) flag. Surely the Finnish custom and other experts could have located the hidden cargo easily. Israel would have achieved their goal and stopped the weapon trade.
C) Why did not Mossad simply hijack the ship and the in “silence” inform Russia come and get your stolen weapons or we have to sink the ship. Surely the Russian government would have been grateful and had transported the missile sellers to a less healthy climate in Siberia and cleaned the ship in silence. Instead a media circus around this was created which makes Russia look very bad. Surely the Russian leaders will not forget such an insult and prestige loss.
I did forget the word NOT from the sentence
What is reported in the most credible media is necessary the absolute truth. 😀
I believe C. is exactly what happened. I believe it quite possible the Mossad/IDF actually physically took over the ship & was quite interested in examining the cargo for obvious reasons. It had plenty of time to do so given how long a period bet. the hijacking & freeing of the ship. If you were Israel wouldn’t you salivate for an opportunity to photograph & examine in minute detail the innards of Russia’s most advanced weapons system? Then, if Russia goes ahead & sells it to Iran or Syria Israel will have an opportunity to design technical counter-measures to defeat it should it ever have to face it in battle.
There is simply no way to find or get to the hidden cargo without unloading the much of the timber. In this case most of the timber would have to be unloaded with the ship’s own cranes to the sea. Have you seen stories about floating timber?
S300 is an relative old weapon system and NATO countries have had access to it already for a long time. Greece (Cyprus and now Crete), Belarus, Armenia, India etc have those missiles. Nato has even tested those missiles in practice. S300 “family” has many generations and types. Surely Israel has some data about them without this “event”.
If Israel (Mossad) would have inspected the missiles on board of Arctic Sea it surely could not be done using Baltic criminals. It would have meant that on the board had been also highly trained Israeli experts and/or the missiles had been loaded to an other ship under Israeli control.
In any case hijacking an EU ship by a foreign power is an act of piracy. It is not very wise for Israel more or less publicly to admit it.
The Israeli Navy engaged in an act of piracy in boarding & imprisoning those sailing on the Free Gaza boats. It has sunk Palestinians ships on the high seas. Certainly regarding a weapons system that poses a lethal threat to Israeli military interests, it would be willing to do the same regardless of whose feet it might be stepping on. That may be why Bibi & Shimon were sent to the Russkies to “explain.”
So, if Peres, the nethaniahu go to Russia in a hurry, what is it they wanted to talk about, exactly? to prove to putin/mendvedev that the russian mafia infiltrated the military-industrial complex? hardly news there. That russian mafia infiltrated both Israeli AND Russian complexes? well, in Israel that’s certainly true – it’s called Lieberman, I believe.
But here’s another question; some ask what can Israel offer Russia to dissuade it from selling S300 to Iran. I don’t ask that, because we know what israel usually offers to countries (guns, diamonds, american bootleged technology + a little missile defense and water desalination? how ’bout some extra special nuclear know-how?). What israel did most likely is not ask but threaten. And they do have a few threats up their sleeve. After all, they have over 200 nuclear war heads which are just sitting there, collecting dust – they hate that kind of waste. Must drive them nuts that they can’t use them on gaza – too close to home. Not that they wouldn’t in a heart beat, if they thought they could get away with it.
But perhaps some distance away? like Iran?
OK, forget nuclear – Israel does have its hands in Georgia’s bowl big time too – the opportunities for mischief are truly endless.
BTW, to me the whole arctic sea saga sounds like a set-up (or a sting, if you wish) gone wrong. In other words, the so-called rogue elements were mossad activated – as was the “ship’s hijacking” as was the “rescue”. The idea was to show the russians just who’s boss, in case they get ideas about sending them S300’s to Iran.
dana, I hear what you’re saying, but because Israel often acts with impunity it’s easy to get an exaggerated sense of her overall power. Israel is not in a place to show Russia “who’s boss”. For one thing, Russia has a lot more weapons and nuclear war-heads than Israel, and a substantially bigger army. Even given the high likelihood that Israel has indeed infiltrated Russia’s military-industrial complex, it would beehoove Israel not to rub Russia and Pooty-poot’s face in this fact too much, or use it as a threat. The thing is, Putin is NOT Israel’s patsy (unlike the U.S. Congress for instance), and if such Mossad infiltration started to become too much of a pesky sting on the great bear’s back, I’m sure the real top people in the country could deal with it, kind of like Putin ‘dealt’ with the oligarchs when it all got a bit too much, and Pooty didn’t seem too bothered by the American Jewish (and corporate media) hand-wringing in response to his heavy-handed tactics with that.
Just look at the NY Times today and Russia’s smug, easy dismissal of the likelihood of sanctions against Iran. Fact is, there’s about a 2% chance we’re going to see U.N. sanctions on Iran with Russia calmly standing in the way, which they will do (and thank God for that). Israel does not control Russia and cannot effectively threaten Russia.
Bottom line, you don’t f@%k with Russia, notwithstanding the Israelis’ little high seas adventure. Napoleon learned that the hard way, the Germans learned that at Stalingrad, between Putin and Bibi in the big ring, come on, don’t kid yourself. The U.S. and Israel really do not control the show any more, though they would like to deludedly think so. But this last fact also perhaps makes us and Israel even more dangerous.
In the case with the Arctic Sea the following happened. During its detention by the Russian ship Ladny, trying to disorient naval mariners, the captain of the dry cargo ship Arctic Sea went on the air and reported on his belongings to the flag of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. At that he called false name of the vessel JON JIN 2 and its sailing route Havana-Sierra Leone, with cargo of palmtrees, as well as his IMO 8018912 number.
During inspection of the ship by naval mariners it was found out that the name JON JIN 2 had been applied with a fresh coat of paint over the name Arctic Sea.
Thus, there are too unsolved questions, but the major of them is the following: “Who was to profit by this action, who is behind the outright cynical provocation, what is the real goal?” It is obvious that the fuss is directed to weakening the role and influence of the Russian Federation in the international arena, blowing to its political leadership’s prestige.
I was just going to say the same thing about Israeli piracy, they’ve got away with it.
But there’s clearly still more to this story than meets the eye, the ship has been sailing in circles for a week and ended up in the Canaries. Has it been off-loaded out at sea?
Or how about the other theory – it’s a stolen Russian nuclear warhead that’s on board. Can’t figure whether that’s for Iran to examine and use, or whether there could be some Mossad false-flag operation attempted.
that makes no sense – I know that Zionist statelet is evil and wants to attack Persia – but were Russia to transfer anything to Iran, and I would give them nukes and means of their delivery if I could – then why would it do in via Baltic, in the full view of everybody, through the Danish straits, via the English channel and then into the gulf where everybody is watching you and is on your back. While you can as safely ship it down Volga where 95% of Iran’s freight from Russia is already going anyway and over Caspian to Bandar Benzali. Iran and Russia are neighbors and share open maritime (or rather lacustrine) border.